She said, for instance, that it was not true that the Marquis de Sallenauve was his father; that it was not even true that the Marquis de Sallenauve was still living; and moreover that the spurious Sallenauve was a man of no heart, who had repudiated his real parents, --adding that she could, by the help of the able man who accompanied her, compel him to disgorge the Sallenauve property and 'clear out' of the place.""I have no objection to that," said Rastignac; "but this woman must, of course, have papers to prove her allegations?""That is the weak point of the matter," replied Vinet."But let me go on with my story.The government has at Arcis a most intelligent and devoted functionary in the commissary of police.Circulating among the groups, as he usually does on market days, he heard these statements of the peasant-woman, and reported them at once, not to the mayor, who might not have heeded them, but to Madame Beauvisage.""Ah ca!" said Rastignac, addressing Maxime; "was the candidate you gave us such a dolt as that?""Just the man you needed," replied Maxime,--"silly to the last degree, and capable of being wound round anybody's finger.I'll go any lengths to repair that loss.""Madame Beauvisage," continued Vinet, "wished to speak with the woman herself, and she ordered Groslier--that's the commissary of police--to fetch her with a threatening air to the mayor's office, so as to give her an idea that the authorities disapproved of her conduct.""Did Madame Beauvisage concoct that plan?" asked Rastignac.
"Yes," replied Maxime, "she is a very clever woman.""Questioned closely by the mayoress," continued Vinet, "who took care to have the mayor present, the peasant-woman was far from categorical.
Her grounds for asserting that the new deputy could not be the son of the marquis, and the assurance with which she stated that the latter had long been dead were not, as it appears, very clearly established;vague rumors and the deductions drawn by the village practitioner seem to be all there was to them.""Then," said Rastignac, "what does all this lead to?""Absolutely nothing from a legal point of view," replied the attorney-general; "for supposing the woman were able to establish the fact that this recognition of the said Dorlange was a mere pretence, she has no status on which to proceed farther.By Article 339 of the Civil Code direct heirship alone has the right to attack the recognition of natural children.""Your balloon is collapsing fast," said the minister.
"So that the woman," continued Vinet, "has no object in proceeding, for she can't inherit; it belongs to the government to pursue the case of supposition of person; she can do no more than denounce the fact.""From which you conclude?" said Rastignac, with that curtness of speech which to a prolix speaker is a warning to be concise.
"From which I conclude, judicially speaking, that the Romilly peasant-woman, so far as she is concerned, will have her trouble for her pains; but, speaking politically, the thing takes quite another aspect.""Let us see the political side," said the minister; "up to this point, I see nothing.""In the first place," replied the attorney-general, "you will admit that it is always possible to bring a bad case?""Certainly."
"And I don't suppose it would signify much to you if the woman did embark in a matter in which she can lose nothing but her costs?""No, I assure you I am wholly indifferent.""In any case, I should have advised you to let things take their course.The Beauvisage husband and wife have engaged to pay the costs and also the expense of keeping the peasant-woman and her counsel in Paris during the inquiry.""Then," said Rastignac, still pressing for a conclusion, "the case is really begun.What will be the result?""What will be the result?" cried the attorney-general, getting excited; "why, anything you please if, before the case comes for trial, your newspapers comment upon it, and your friends spread reports and insinuations.What will result? why, an immense fall in public estimation for our adversary suspected of stealing a name which does not belong to him! What will result? why, the opportunity for a fierce challenge in the Chamber.""Which you will take upon yourself to make?" asked Rastignac.
"Ah! I don't know about that.The matter would have to be rather more studied, and the turn the case might take more certain, if I had anything to do with it.""So, for the present," remarked the minister, "the whole thing amounts to an application of Basile's famous theory about calumny: 'good to set a-going, because some of it will always stick.'""Calumny!" exclaimed Vinet, "that remains to be seen.Perhaps a good round of gossip is all that can be made of it.Monsieur de Trailles, here, knows better than I do the state of things down there.He can tell you that the disappearance of the father immediately after the recognition had a bad effect upon people's minds; and every one in Arcis has a vague impression of secret plotting in this affair of the election.You don't know, my dear minister, all that can be made in the provinces of a judicial affair when adroitly manipulated,--cooked, as I may say.In my long and laborious career at the bar I saw plenty of that kind of miracle.But a parliamentary debate is another thing.
