The Deputy of Arcis by Honoré de Balzac (reading in the dark .txt) 📖

answer.

_M. de Sallenauve_.--According to M. le comte de Rastignac, I
showed essential disrespect to the Chamber by asking, in a foreign
country, for leave of absence, which it was obvious I had already
taken before making my request. But, in his extreme desire to find
me to blame, the minister lost sight of the fact that at the time
I left France the Chamber had not met, no president existed, and
therefore in making my request at that time to the president of
this assembly I should simply have addressed a pure abstraction.
[Left: "True!"] As for the insufficiency of the motives with which
I supported my request, I regret to have to say to the Chamber
that I cannot be more explicit even now; because in revealing the
true cause of my absence I should betray the secret of an
honorable man, and not my own. I did not conceal from myself that
by this reticence I exposed my proceedings to mistaken
interpretations,--though I certainly did not expect it to give
rise to accusations as burlesque as they are odious. [Much
excitement.] In point of fact, I was so anxious not to neglect any
of the duties of my new position that I did precisely what the
minister of Public Works reproaches me for not doing. I selected a
man in a most honorable position, who was, like myself, a
repository of the secret I am unable to divulge, and I requested
him to make all necessary explanations to the president of this
Chamber. But, calumny having no doubt worked upon his mind, that
honorable person must have thought it compromising to his name and
dignity to do me this service. The danger to me being now over, I
shall not betray his prudent incognito. Though I was far indeed
from expecting this calculating selfishness, which has painfully
surprised and wounded me, I shall be careful to keep this betrayal
of friendship between myself and his own conscience, which alone
shall reproach him for the wrong he has done me.

At this moment a disturbance occurred in the peers' gallery; a
lady had fainted; and several deputies, among them a physician,
left the hall hastily. The sitting was momentarily suspended.

_The President_.--Ushers, open the ventilators. It is want of air
that has caused this unfortunate accident. M. de Sallenauve, be
good enough to resume your speech.

_M. de Sallenauve_.--Two words, gentleman, and I have finished. I
think the petition to authorize a criminal prosecution has already
lost something of its weight in the minds of my least cordial
colleagues. But I have here a letter from the Romilly
peasant-woman, my relation, duly signed and authenticated,
withdrawing her charge and confirming all the explanations I have
just had the honor to give you. I might read this letter aloud to
you, but I think it more becoming to place it in the hands of M. le
president. ["Very good! very good!"] As for my illegal absence, I
returned to Paris early this morning, and I could have been in my
seat at the opening of the Chamber; but, as M. de Canalis has told
you, I had it much at heart not to appear in this hall until I
could disperse the cloud which has so strangely appeared around my
reputation. It has taken me the whole morning to obtain these
papers. And now, gentlemen, you have to decide whether a few
hours' delay in taking his seat in this Chamber justifies you in
sending a colleague back to his electors. But after all, whatever
is done, whether some persist in thinking me a forger, or a
libertine, or merely a negligent deputy, I feel no anxiety about
the verdict of my electors. I can confidently assert that after a
delay of a few weeks I shall return to you.

_Cries on all sides_.--The vote! the vote!

On leaving the tribune M. de Sallenauve receives many
congratulations.

_The President_.--I put to vote the admission of M. de Sallenauve
as the deputy elected by the arrondissement of Arcis.

Nearly the whole Chamber rises and votes the admission; a few
deputies of the Centre alone abstain from taking part in the
demonstration.

M. de Sallenauve is admitted and takes the oath.

_The President_.--The order of the day calls for the reading of
the Address to the Throne, but the chairman of the committee
appointed to prepare it informs me that the document in question
cannot be communicated to the Chamber before to-morrow. Nothing
else being named in the order of the day, I declare this sitting
adjourned.

The Chamber rose at half-past four o'clock.

ADDENDUM

The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy.

Arthez, Daniel d' A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
Letters of Two Brides
The Secrets of a Princess

Beauvisage (tenant)
The Gondreville Mystery

Beauvisage, Phileas
Cousin Betty

Bixiou, Jean-Jacques
The Purse
A Bachelor's Establishment
The Government Clerks
Modeste Mignon
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
The Firm of Nucingen
The Muse of the Department
Cousin Betty
Beatrix
A Man of Business
Gaudissart II.
The Unconscious Humorists
Cousin Pons

Blondet, Virginie
Jealousies of a Country Town
The Secrets of a Princess
The Peasantry
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
Another Study of Woman
A Daughter of Eve

Brandon, Lady Marie Augusta
The Lily of the Valley
La Grenadiere

Bridau, Joseph
The Purse
A Bachelor's Establishment
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
A Start in Life
Modeste Mignon
Another Study of Woman
Pierre Grassou
Letters of Two Brides
Cousin Betty

Cadine, Jenny
Cousin Betty
Beatrix
The Unconscious Humorists

Camps, Octave de
Madame Firmiani

Camps, Madame Octave de
Madame Firmiani
The Government Clerks
A Woman of Thirty
A Daughter of Eve

Canalis, Constant-Cyr-Melchior, Baron de
Letters of Two Brides
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
Modeste Mignon
The Magic Skin
Another Study of Woman
A Start in Life
Beatrix
The Unconscious Humorists

Carigliano, Duchesse de
At the Sign of the Cat and Racket
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
The Peasantry

Chargeboeuf, Melchior-Rene, Vicomte de
The Muse of the Department

Chocardelle, Mademoiselle
Beatrix
A Prince of Bohemia
A Man of Business
Cousin Betty

Cinq-Cygne, Laurence, Comtesse (afterwards Marquise de)
The Gondreville Mystery
The Secrets of a Princess
The Seamy Side of History

Cointet, Boniface
Lost Illusions
The Firm of Nucingen

Collin, Jacques
Father Goriot
Lost Illusions
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life

Dionis
Ursule Mirouet

Estorade, Louis, Chevalier, then Vicomte and Comte de l'
Letters of Two Brides

Estorade, Madame de l'
Letters of Two Brides
Ursule Mirouet

Estorade, Armand de l'
Letters of Two Brides

Fontanon, Abbe
A Second Home
The Government Clerks
Honorine

Franchessini, Colonel
Father Goriot

Gaston, Marie
La Grenadiere
Letters of Two Brides

Giguet, Colonel
The Gondreville Mystery

Gobseck, Sarah Van