"Well, then, here's what I advise.Don't let your peasant-woman lodge her complaint before the criminal court, but make her place in the hands of the president of the Chamber of deputies a simple request for permission to proceed.Probably the permission will not be granted, and the affair will have to stop at that stage; but the matter being once made known will circulate through the Chambers, the newspapers will get hold of it and make a stir, and the ministry, sub rosa, can envenom the vague accusation through its friends.""Parbleu! my dear fellow," cried Maxime, delighted to find a way open to his hatred, "you've a strong head,--stronger than that of these so-called statesmen.But this request for permission addressed to the president of the Chamber, who is to draw it up?""Oh! not I," said Desroches, who did not wish to mix himself up any farther in this low intrigue."It isn't legal assistance that you want; this is simply firing your first gun, and I don't undertake that business.But you can find plenty of briefless barristers always ready to put their finger in the political pie.Massol, for instance, can draw it up admirably.But you must not tell him that the idea came from me.""Oh! as for that," said Maxime, "I'll take it all on my own shoulders.
Perhaps in this form Rastignac may come round to the project.""Yes, but take care you don't make an enemy of Vinet, who will think you very impertinent to have an idea which ought, naturally, to have come into the head of so great a parliamentary tactician as himself.""Well, before long," said Maxime, rising, "I hope to bring the Vinets and Rastignacs, and others like them, to heel.Where do you dine this evening?" he added.
"In a cave," replied Desroches, "with a band.""Where's that?"
"I suppose, in the course of your erotic existence, you have had recourse to the good offices of a certain Madame de Saint-Esteve?""No," replied Maxime, "I have always done my own business in that line.""True," said Desroches, "you conquer in the upper ranks, where, as a general thing, they don't use go-betweens.But, at any rate, you have heard of Madame de Saint-Esteve?""Of course; her establishment is in the rue Neuve-Saint-Marc, and it was she who got that pot of money out of Nucingen for La Torpille.
Isn't she some relation to the chief of detective police, who bears the same name, and used to be one of the same kind as herself?""I don't know about that," said Desroches, "but what I can tell you is that in her business as procuress--as it was called in days less decorous than our own--the worthy woman has made a fortune, and now, without any serious change of occupation, she lives magnificently in the rue de Provence, where she carries on the business of a matrimonial agency.""Is that where you are going to dine?" asked Maxime.
"Yes, with the director of the London opera-house, Emile Blondet, Finot, Lousteau, Felicien Vernon, Theodore Gaillard, Hector Merlin, and Bixiou, who was commissioned to invite me, as it seems they are in want of my experience and capacity for business!""Ah ca! then there's some financial object in this dinner?""No; it merely concerns a theatrical venture,--the engagement of a prima donna; and they want to submit the terms of the contract to my judgment.You understand that the rest of the guests are invited to trumpet the affair as soon as the papers are signed.""Who is the object of all this preparation?""Oh! a star,--destined, they say, to European success; an Italian, discovered by a Swedish nobleman, Comte Halphertius, through the medium of Madame de Saint-Esteve.The illustrious manager of the London opera-house is negotiating this treaty in order that she shall make her first appearance at his theatre.""Well, adieu, my dear fellow; a pleasant dinner," said Maxime, preparing to depart."If your star shines in London, it will probably appear in our firmament next winter.As for me, I must go and attend to the sunrise in Arcis.By the bye, where does Massol live?""Faith! I couldn't tell you that.I never myself trust him with a case, for I will not employ barristers who dabble in politics.But you can get his address from the 'Gazette des Tribuneaux'; he is one of their reporters."Maxime went to the office of that newspaper; but, probably on account of creditors, the office servant had express orders not to give the barrister's address, so that, in spite of his arrogant, imperious manner, Monsieur de Trailles obtained no information.Happily, he bethought him that he frequently saw Massol at the Opera, and he resolved to seek him there that evening.Before going to dinner, he went to the lodgings in the rue Montmartre, where he had installed the Romilly peasant-woman and her counsel, whom Madame Beauvisage had already sent to Paris.He found them at dinner, making the most of the Beauvisage funds, and he gave them an order to come to his apartment the next day at half-past eleven without breakfasting.
In the evening he found Massol, as he expected, at the opera-house.
Going up to the lawyer with the slightly insolent manner which was natural to him, he said,--"Monsieur, I have an affair, half legal, half political, which Idesire to talk over with you.If it did not demand a certain amount of secrecy, I would go to your office, but I think we could talk with more safety in my own apartment; where, moreover, I shall be able to put you in communication with other persons concerned in the affair.
May I hope that to-morrow morning, at eleven o'clock, you will do me the favor to take a cup of tea with me?"If Massol had had an office, he might possibly not have consented, for the sake of his legal dignity, to reverse the usual order of things;but as he perched rather than lodged in any particular place, he was glad of an arrangement which left his abode, if he had any, incognito.
"I shall have the honor to be with you at the hour named," he replied ceremoniously.
"Rue Pigalle," said Maxime, "No.6."
"Yes, I know," returned Massol,--"a few steps from the corner of the rue de la Rochefoucauld."