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Page 29
"Well," he said, "I consent to what Monsieur de Trailles proposes.
I'll put the question to you in the Chamber, but I shall do it with
great severity."
"Then we shall have the house with us, for a man of your weight and
your eloquence is certain to have the ear of the Chamber," said
Canalis. "I'll reply to you; but I shall do it sharply, to crush you."
"You could bring about a change of the cabinet, for on such ground you
can do what you like with the Chamber, and be master of the
situation."
"Maxime has trapped them both," said Leon to his cousin; "that fellow
is like a fish in water among the intrigues of the Chamber."
"Who is he?" asked Gazonal.
"An ex-scoundrel who is now in a fair way to become an ambassador,"
replied Bixiou.
"Giraud!" said Leon to the councillor of state, "don't leave the
Chamber without asking Rastignac what he promised to tell you about a
suit you are to render a decision on two days hence. It concerns my
cousin here; I'll go and see you to-morrow morning early about it."
The three friends followed the three deputies, at a distance, into the
lobby.
"Cousin, look at those two men," said Leon, pointing out to him a
former minister and the leader of the Left Centre. "Those are two men
who really have 'the ear of the Chamber,' and who are called in jest
ministers of the department of the Opposition. They have the ear of
the Chamber so completely that they are always pulling it."
"It is four o'clock," said Bixiou, "let us go back to the rue de
Berlin."
"Yes; you've now seen the heart of the government, cousin, and you
must next be shown the ascarides, the taenia, the intestinal worm,--
the republican, since I must needs name him," said Leon.
When the three friends were once more packed into their hackney-coach,
Gazonal looked at his cousin and Bixiou like a man who had a mind to
launch a flood of oratorical and Southern bile upon the elements.
"I distrusted with all my might this great hussy of a town," he rolled
out in Southern accents; "but since this morning I despise her! The
poor little province you think so petty is an honest girl; but Paris
is a prostitute, a greedy, lying comedian; and I am very thankful not
to be robbed of my skin in it."
"The day is not over yet," said Bixiou, sententiously, winking at
Leon.
"And why do you complain in that stupid way," said Leon, "of a
prostitution to which you will owe the winning of your lawsuit? Do you
think you are more virtuous than we, less of a comedian, less greedy,
less liable to fall under some temptation, less conceited than those
we have been making dance for you like puppets?"
"Try me!"
"Poor lad!" said Leon, shrugging his shoulders, "haven't you already
promised Rastignac your electoral influence?"
"Yes, because he was the only one who ridiculed himself."
"Poor lad!" repeated Bixiou, "why slight me, who am always ridiculing
myself? You are like a pug-dog barking at a tiger. Ha! if you saw us
really ridiculing a man, you'd see that we can drive a sane man mad."
This conversation brought Gazonal back to his cousin's house, where
the sight of luxury silenced him, and put an end to the discussion.
Too late he perceived that Bixiou had been making him pose.
At half-past five o'clock, the moment when Leon de Lora was making his
evening toilet to the great wonderment of Gazonal, who counted the
thousand and one superfluities of his cousin, and admired the
solemnity of the valet as he performed his functions, the "pedicure of
monsieur" was announced, and Publicola Masson, a little man fifty
years of age, made his appearance, laid a small box of instruments on
the floor, and sat down on a small chair opposite to Leon, after
bowing to Gazonal and Bixiou.
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