THE WAY TO MANAGE POLITICAL INTRIGUES
Toward the close of the audience given by the minister of Public Works to Monsieur Octave de Camps, who was presented by the Comte de l'Estorade, an usher entered the room, and gave the minister the card of the attorney-general, Monsieur Vinet, and that of Monsieur Maxime de Trailles.
"Very good," said Rastignac; "say to those gentlemen that I will receive them in a few moments."Shortly after, Monsieur de l'Estorade and Monsieur de Camps rose to take leave; and it was then that Rastignac very succinctly let the peer know of the danger looming on the horizon of his friend Sallenauve.Monsieur de l'Estorade exclaimed against the word friend.
"I don't know, my dear minister," he said, "why you insist on giving that title to a man who is, really and truly, a mere acquaintance, and, I may add, a passing acquaintance, if the rumors you have just mentioned to us take actual shape.""I am glad to hear you say that," said the minister, "because the friendly relations which I supposed you to hold towards him would have embarrassed me a good deal in the hostilities which I foresee must break out between him and the government.""Most grateful, I am sure, for that sentiment," replied the peer of France; "but be kind enough to remember that I give you carte blanche.You are free to handle Monsieur de Sallenauve as your political enemy, without a moment's fear of troubling me."Thereupon they parted, and Messieurs Vinet and de Trailles were introduced.
The attorney-general, Vinet, was the most devoted and the most consulted champion of the government among its various officials.In a possible reconstitution of the ministry he was obviously the candidate for the portfolio of justice.Being thoroughly initiated into all the business of that position, and versed in its secret dealings, nothing was hatched in that department on which he was not consulted, if not actually engaged.The electoral matters of Arcis-sur-Aube had a double claim to his interest, partly on account of his wife, a Chargeboeuf of Brie, and a relative of the Cinq-Cygnes, but chiefly because of the office held by his son in the local administration.So that when, earlier in the morning, Monsieur de Trailles carried to Rastignac a letter from Madame Beauvisage, wife of the defeated governmental candidate, full of statements injurious to the new deputy, the minister had replied, without listening to any explanations,--"See Vinet about it; and tell him, from me, to come here with you."Notified by de Trailles, who offered to fetch him in his carriage, Vinet was ready enough to go to the minister; and now that we find the three together in Rastignac's study, we shall be likely to obtain some better knowledge of the sort of danger hanging over Sallenauve's head than we gained from Jacques Bricheteau's or Monsieur de l'Estorade's very insufficient information.
"You say, my dear friends," said the minister, "that we can win a game against that puritan, who seemed to me, when I met him at l'Estorade's last evening, to be an out-and-out enemy to the government?"Admitted to this interview without official character, Maxime de Trailles knew life too well to take upon himself to answer this query.
The attorney-general, on the contrary, having a most exalted sense of his own political importance, did not miss the opportunity to put himself forward.
"When Monsieur de Trailles communicated to me this morning a letter from Madame Beauvisage," he hastened to say, "I had just received one from my son, conveying to me very much the same information.I am of Monsieur de Trailles' opinion, that the affair may become very serious for our adversary, provided, however, that it is well managed.""I know, as yet, very little about the affair," remarked the minister.
"As I wished for your opinion in the first place, my dear Vinet, Irequested Monsieur de Trailles to postpone his explanation of its details until you could be present at the discussion."This time Maxime was plainly authorized and even required to speak, but again Vinet stole the opportunity.
"Here is what my son Olivier writes me, and it is confirmed by the letter of Madame Beauvisage, in whom, be it said in passing, my dear minister, you have lost a most excellent deputy.It appears that on the last market-day Maitre Achille Pigoult, who is left in charge of the affairs of the new deputy, received a visit from a peasant-woman of Romilly, a large village in the neighborhood of Arcis.The mysterious father of the deputy, the so-called Marquis de Sallenauve, declared himself to be the last remaining scion of the family; but it seems that this woman produced papers in due form, which show her to be a Sallenauve in the direct line, and within the degree of parentage required to constitute her an heir.""Was she as ignorant of the existence of the Marquis de Sallenauve as the marquis seems to have been of hers?" asked Rastignac.
"That does not clearly appear from what she says," replied the attorney-general; "but it might so happen among relations so curiously placed.""Go on, if you please," said Rastignac; "before we draw conclusions we must know the facts, which, as you are aware, is not always done in the Chamber of deputies.""Fortunately, sometimes, for the ministers," remarked Maxime, laughing.
"Monsieur is right," said Vinet; "hail to the man who can muddle questions.But to return to our peasant-woman.Not being satisfied, naturally, with Maitre Pigoult's reception of her news, she went into the market-square, and there by the help of a legal practitioner from her village, who seems to have accompanied her, she spread about reports which are very damaging to my worthy colleague in the Chamber.
