The Lesser Bourgeoisie by Honore de Balzac (freenovel24 TXT) 📖

of this

conference. It is therefore not astonishing that he disregarded the

customs of the bar and went to Desroches's office, to study Sauvaignou

and take part in the struggle, in spite of the danger he ran in thus

placing himself visibly before the eyes of one of the most dreaded

attorneys in Paris.

 

As he entered the office and made his salutations, he took note of

Sauvaignou. The man was, as the name had already told him, from

Marseilles,--the foreman of a master-carpenter, entrusted with the

giving out of sub-contracts. The profits of this work consisted of

what he could make between the price he paid for the work and that

paid to him by the master-carpenter; this agreement being exclusive of

material, his contract being only for labor. The master-carpenter had

failed. Sauvaignou had thereupon appealed to the court of commerce for

recognition as creditor with a lien on the property. He was a stocky

little man, dressed in a gray linen blouse, with a cap on his head,

and was seated in an armchair. Three banknotes, of a thousand francs

each, lying visibly before him on Desroches's desk, informed la

Peyrade that the negotiation had already taken place, and that the

lawyers were worsted. Godeschal's eyes told the rest, and the glance

which Desroches cast at the "poor man's advocate" was like the blow of

a pick-axe into the earth of a grave. Stimulated by his danger, the

Provencal became magnificent. He coolly took up the bank-notes and

folded them, as if to put them in his pocket, saying to Desroches:--

 

"Thuillier has changed his mind."

 

"Very good; then we are all agreed," said the terrible attorney.

 

"Yes; your client must now hand over to us the fifty thousand francs

we have spent on finishing the house, according to the contract

between Thuillier and Grindot. I did not tell you that yesterday," he

added, turning to Godeschal.

 

"Do you hear that?" said Desroches to Sauvaignou. "That's a case I

shall not touch without proper guarantees."

 

"But, messieurs," said Sauvaignou, "I can't negotiate this matter

until I have seen the worthy man who paid me five hundred francs on

account for having signed him that bit of a proxy."

 

"Are you from Marseilles?" said la Peyrade, in patois.

 

"Oh! if he tackles him with patois the fellow is beaten," said

Godeschal to Desroches in a low tone.

 

"Yes, monsieur," replied the Marseillais.

 

"Well, you poor devil," continued Theodose, "don't you see that they

want to ruin you? Shall I tell you what you ought to do? Pocket these

three thousand francs, and when your worthy man comes after you, take

your rule and hit him a rap over the knuckles; tell him he's a rascal

who wants you to do his dirty work, and instead of that you revoke

your proxy and will pay him his five hundred francs in the week with

three Thursdays. Then be off with you to Marseilles with these three

thousand francs and your savings in your pocket. If anything happens

to you there, let me know through these gentlemen, and I'll get you

out of the scrape; for, don't you see? I'm not only a Provencal, but

I'm also one of the leading lawyers in Paris, and the friend of the

poor."

 

When the workman found a compatriot sanctioning in a tone of authority

the reasons by which he could betray Cerizet, he capitulated, asking,

however, for three thousand five hundred francs. That demand having

been granted he remarked:--

 

"It is none too much for a rap over the knuckles; he might put me in

prison for assault."

 

"Well, you needn't strike unless he insults you," replied la Peyrade,

"and that's self-defence."

 

When Desroches had assured him that la Peyrade was really a barrister

in good standing, Sauvaignou signed the relinquishment, which

contained a receipt for the amount, principal and interest, of his

claim, made in duplicate between himself and Thuillier, and witnessed

by the two attorneys; so that the paper was a final settlement of the

whole matter.

 

"We'll leave the remaining fifteen hundred between you," whispered la

Peyrade to Desroches and Godeschal, "on condition that you give me the

relinquishment, which I will have Thuillier accept and sign before his

notary, Cardot. Poor man! he never closed his eyes all night!"

 

"Very well," replied Desroches. "You may congratulate yourself," he

added, making Sauvaignou sign the paper, "that you've earned that

money pretty easily."

 

"It is really mine, isn't it, monsieur?" said the Marseillais, already

uneasy.

 

"Yes, and legally, too," replied Desroches, "only you must let your

man know this morning that you have revoked your proxy under date of

yesterday. Go out through my clerk's office, here, this way."

 

Desroches told his head-clerk what the man was to do, and he sent a

pupil-clerk with him to see that a sheriff's officer carried the

notice to Cerizet before ten o'clock.

 

"I thank you, Desroches," said la Peyrade, pressing the attorney's

hand; "you think of everything; I shall never forget this service."

 

"Don't deposit the deed with Cardot till after twelve o'clock,"

returned Desroches.

 

"Hay! comrade," cried the barrister, in Provencal, following

Sauvaignou into the next room, "take your Margot to walk about

Belleville, and be sure you don't go home."

 

"I hear," said Sauvaignou. "I'm off to-morrow; adieu!"

 

"Adieu," returned la Peyrade, with a Provencal cry.

 

"There is something behind all this," said Desroches in an undertone

to Godeschal, as la Peyrade followed Sauvaignou into the clerk's

office.

 

"The Thuilliers get a splendid piece of property for next to nothing,"

replied Godeschal; "that's all."

 

"La Peyrade and Cerizet look to me like two divers who are fighting

under water," replied Desroches. "What am I to say to Cerizet, who put

the matter into my hands?" he added, as the barrister returned to

them.

 

"Tell him that Sauvaignou forced your hand," replied la Peyrade.

 

"And you fear nothing?" said Desroches, in a sudden manner.

 

"I? oh no! I want to give Cerizet a lesson."

 

"To-morrow, I shall know the truth," said Desroches, in a low tone, to

Godeschal; "no one chatters like a beaten man."

 

La Peyrade departed, carrying with him the deed of relinquishment. At

eleven o'clock he was in the courtroom of the justice-of-peace,

perfectly calm, and firm. When he saw Cerizet come in, pale with rage,

his eyes full of venom, he said in his ear:--

 

"My dear friend, I'm a pretty good fellow myself, and I hold that

twenty-five thousand francs in good bank-bills at your disposal,

whenever you will return to me those notes of mine which you hold."

 

Cerizet looked at the advocate of the poor, without being able to say

one word in reply; he was green; the bile had struck in. 

CHAPTER XIII (THE PERVERSITY OF DOVES)

"I am a non-dispossessable property-owner!" cried Thuillier, coming

home after visiting his notary. "No human power can get that house

away from me. Cardot says so."

 

The bourgeoisie think much more of what their notary tells them than

of what their attorney says. The notary is nearer to them than any

other ministerial officer. The Parisian bourgeois never pays a visit

to his attorney without a sense of fear; whereas he mounts the stairs

with ever-renewed pleasure to see his notary; he admires that

official's virtue and his sound good sense.

 

"Cardot, who is looking for an apartment for one of his clients, wants

to know about our second floor," continued Thuillier. "If I choose

he'll introduce to me on Sunday a tenant who is ready to sign a lease

for eighteen years at forty thousand francs and taxes! What do you say

to that, Brigitte?"

 

"Better wait," she replied. "Ah! that dear Theodose, what a fright he

gave me!"

 

"Hey! my dearest girl, I must tell you that when Cardot asked who put

me in the way of this affair he said I owed him a present of at least

ten thousand francs. The fact is, I owe it all to him."

 

"But he is the son of the house," responded Brigitte.

 

"Poor lad! I'll do him the justice to say that he asks for nothing."

 

"Well, dear, good friend," said la Peyrade, coming in about three

o'clock, "here you are, richissime!"

 

"And through you, Theodose."

 

"And you, little aunt, have you come to life again? Ah! you were not

half as frightened as I was. I put your interests before my own; I

haven't breathed freely till this morning at eleven o'clock; and yet I

am sure now of having two mortal enemies at my heels in the two men I

have tricked for your sake. As I walked home, just now, I asked myself

what could be your influence over me to make me commit such a crime,

and whether the happiness of belonging to your family and becoming

your son could ever efface the stain I have put upon my conscience."

 

"Bah! you can confess it," said Thuillier, the free-thinker.

 

"And now," said Theodose to Brigitte, "you can pay, in all security,

the cost of the house,--eighty thousand francs, and thirty thousand to

Grindot; in all, with what you have paid in costs, one hundred and

twenty thousand; and this last twenty thousand added make one hundred

and forty thousand. If you let the house outright to a single tenant

ask him for the last year's rent in advance, and reserve for my wife

and me the whole of the first floor above the entresol. Make those

conditions and you'll still get your forty thousand francs a year. If

you should want to leave this quarter so as to be nearer the Chamber,

you can always take up your abode with us on that vast first floor,

which has stables and coach-house belonging to it; in fact, everything

that is needful for a splendid life. And now, Thuillier, I am going to

get the cross of the Legion of honor for you."

 

Hearing this last promise, Brigitte cried out in her enthusiasm:--

 

"Faith! my dear boy, you've done our business so well that I'll leave

you to manage that of letting the house."

 

"Don't abdicate, dear aunt," replied Theodose. "God keep me from ever

taking a step without you! You are the good genius of this family; I

think only of the day when Thuillier will take his seat in the

Chamber. If you let the house you will come into possession of your

forty thousand francs for the last year of the lease in two months

from now; and that will not prevent Thuillier from drawing his

quarterly ten thousand of the rental."

 

After casting this hope into the mind of the old maid, who was

jubilant, Theodose drew Thuillier into the garden and said to him,

without beating round the bush:--

 

"Dear, good friend, find means to get ten thousand francs from your

sister, and be sure not to let her suspect that you pay them to me;

tell her that sum is required in the government office to facilitate

your appointment as chevalier of the Legion of honor; tell her, too,

that you know the persons among whom that sum should be distributed."

 

"That's a good idea," said Thuillier; "besides, I'll pay it back to

her when I get my rents."

 

"Have the money ready this evening, dear friend. Now I am going out on

business about your cross; to-morrow we shall know something

definitely about it."

 

"What a man you are!" cried Thuillier.

 

"The ministry of the 1st of March is going to fall, and we must get it

out of them beforehand," said Theodose, shrewdly.

 

He now hurried to Madame Colleville, crying out as he entered her

room:--

 

"I've conquered! We shall have a piece of landed property for Celeste

worth a million, a life-interest in which will be given to her by her

marriage-contract; but keep the secret, or your daughter will be

hunted down by peers of France. Besides, this settlement will only be

made in my favor. Now dress yourself, and let us go and call on Madame

du Bruel; she can get the cross for Thuillier. While you are getting

under arms I'll do a little courting to Celeste; you and I can talk as

we drive along."

 

La Peyrade had seen, as he passed the door of the salon, Celeste and

Felix Phellion in close conversation. Flavie had such confidence in

her daughter that