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Beljambe, the innkeeper, formerly a chef at Lisieux, was to cook certain dishes; Germaine had engaged the services of the poultry-wench; and Marianne, Madame Bordin's servant-girl, would also come. Since four o'clock the range was wide open; and the two proprietors, full of impatience, awaited their guests. Hurel stopped under the beech row to adjust his frock-coat.
Good-bye to them! All for the people henceforth! And followed by Hurel, his factotum, he went to meet the curé.
All the others followed her example, after their respective ways the curé giving a sort of cluck like a hen, Hurel coughing, the doctor mourning over it, while his wife had a nervous spasm, and Foureau, an unceremonious type of man, breaking an Abd-el-Kader and putting it into his pocket as a souvenir.
And the next moment he disappeared, in the machinist's clutch, into the recess of the window. Gorju came to his assistance. "Let him alone! He's a decent fellow." They clenched. The door flew open, and Marescot, on the threshold, announced the decision of the council. Hurel had suggested his doing so.
Everybody, through eagerness to make their acquaintance, accepted their invitation, except the Count de Faverges, who had been summoned to the capital by business. They fell back on M. Hurel, his factotum.
Manet in the Rue de Saint-Pétersbourg, and their weekly reception became a rallying centre for not only les Jeunes, but also for such men as Gambetta, Emile Ollivier, Clemenceau, Antonin Proust, De Banville, Baudelaire, Duranty with whom Manet fought a duel over a trifle Zola, Mallarmé, Abbé Hurel, Monet, and the impressionistic group. Edouard entertained great devotion for his mother.
But Bouvard, irritated at the ill-success of his garden, took up the defence of the people. They all began talking at the same time. Foureau extolled the government. Hurel saw nothing in the world but landed property. The Abbé Jeufroy complained of the fact that it did not protect religion. Pécuchet attacked the taxes. Madame Bordin exclaimed at intervals, "As for me, I detest the Republic."
This was the occasion of his visit: Hurel, his man of business, had informed him that, while searching everywhere for documents, they had bought up old papers at the farm of Aubrye. That was perfectly true. Had they not discovered some letters of Baron de Gonneval, a former aide-de-camp of the Duke of Angoulême, who had stayed at Aubrye? He wished to have this correspondence for family reasons.
Hurel, as he withdrew, made a low bow to the company. M. Marescot had disappeared after dessert. Madame Bordin again went over her recipe for gherkins, promised a second for plums with brandy, and made three turns in the large walk; but, passing close to the linden tree, the end of her dress got caught, and they heard her murmuring: "My God! what a piece of idiocy this tree is!"
"Amongst the Athenians," said Marescot "amongst the Athenians, towards whom we bear certain resemblances, Solon checkmated the democrats by raising the electoral census." "It would be better," said Hurel, "to suppress the Chamber: every disorder comes from Paris." "Let us decentralise," said the notary. "On a large scale," added the count.
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