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Briefly, it was all a premeditated disaster brought about by some evil power which had a spite against the peasantry, who were foolish to give their sweat and their blood to such a thankless creature. "Madame Lepailleur brought her boy with her, a little fellow three years old, called Antonin," resumed Marianne, "and we fell to talking of children together. She quite surprised me.
Once in possession of the information furnished by the landlady of the Mulet and by the sub-prefect Antonin Goulard, Monsieur de Trailles had soon arranged his plan of electoral operations, and this plan evinces itself so readily that the reader must already have perceived it.
He recovered sufficiently to proceed to the waters of St. Antonin for the recovery of his health, when he was seized, together with his two guides or bearers, by the burgess guard of the town of Caussade. The three brothers Grenier endeavoured to intercede for them; but the mayor of Caussade, proud of his capture, sent the whole of the prisoners to gaol.
Antonin, however, had no desire to return home; he held the country in horror and feared, too, that his father might chain him up like a dog. So his mother placed him with some people of Batignolles, paying for his board and for the attendance of a doctor of the district. This had been going on for three months or so, and every fortnight La Lepailleur went to see her son.
He tried to kill himself and failed; he tried again, wondering, no doubt, why he who commanded death for others could not command it for himself. Presently he succeeded, and Antonin the pious Antonin, as the senate called him marshalled from cellars and crypts the senators and citizens whom Hadrian had ordered to be destroyed.
The judge of the court, Monsieur Michu, was, as we know already, a partisan of the Elder Branch and a devoted adherent of the house of Cinq-Cygne. "No, I don't understand the action of the government," repeated the sub-prefect, Antonin Goulard, pointing to the groups which seemed to be thickening. "At such an important crisis to leave me without instructions!"
"What will strike you as very strange," said Antonin Goulard, "is that the party at Cinq-Cygne have just sent Mademoiselle Anicette, the maid of the Princesse de Cadignan, in the Cinq-Cygne carriage, with a note to the stranger, and he is going now to pass the night there." "Ah ca!" said Olivier Vinet, "then he is not a man; he's a devil, a phoenix, he will poculate "
When Antonin saw the judge enter, followed by a little weazened man in black, with a portfolio under his arm, he at once knew what he had come for. "Ah," he said, "monsieur comes to see me about M. Bertomy's case?" "Precisely." M. Patrigent remained standing by the sick-bed while Sigault arranged his papers on a little table.
"You are beginning your political career betimes," said Antonin, laughing. "You are trying to corrupt me, rapid puritan!" "Will you support me?" "My dear fellow, you know very well that Bar-sur-Aube votes here. Who can guarantee a majority under such circumstances? My colleague of Bar-sur-Aube would complain of me if I did not unite my efforts with his in support of the government.
"Well, what wood is the beam that has plumped into our bog made of?" said Olivier Vinet when Antonin Goulard rejoined them on leaving the Mulet. "He is a Comte Maxime who is here to study the geological system of Champagne, with a view to finding mineral waters," replied the sub-prefect, with an easy manner. "Say a speculator," said Oliver.
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