On the staircase la Peyrade stopped to exhale, if we may so express it, the happiness of which his heart was full. The words of the countess, the ingenious preparation she had made to put him on the track of her sentiments, seemed to him the guarantee of her sincerity, and he left her full of faith.
Possessed by that intoxication of happy persons which shows itself in their gestures, their looks, their very gait, and sometimes in actions not authorized by their common-sense, after pausing a moment, as we have said, on the staircase, he ran up a few steps till he could see the door of the Thuilliers' apartment.
"At last!" he cried, "fame, fortune, happiness have come to me; but, above all, I can now give myself the joy of vengeance. After Dutocq and Cerizet, I will crush YOU, vile bourgeois brood!"So saying, he shook his fist at the innocent door. Then he turned and ran out; the popular saying that the earth could not hold him, was true at that moment of his being.
The next day, for he could not restrain any longer the tempest that was swelling within him, la Peyrade went to see Thuillier in the bitterest and most hostile of moods. What was therefore his amazement when, before he had time to put himself on guard and stop the demonstration of union and oblivion, Thuillier flung himself into his arms.
"My friend," cried the municipal councillor, as he loosened his clasp, "my political fortune is made; this morning all the newspapers, without exception, have spoken of the seizure of my pamphlet; and you ought to see how the opposition sheets have mauled the government.""Simple enough," said la Peyrade, not moved by this enthusiasm; "you are a topic for them, that's all. But this does not alter the situation; the prosecution will be only the more determined to have you condemned.""Well, then," said Thuillier, proudly raising his head, "I will go to prison, like Beranger, like Lamennais, like Armand Carrel.""My good fellow, persecution is charming at a distance; but when you hear the big bolts run upon you, you may be sure you won't like it as well.""But," objected Thuillier, "prisoners condemned for political offences are always allowed to do their time in hospital if they like. Besides, I'm not yet convicted. You said yourself you expected to get me acquitted.""Yes, but since then I have heard things which make that result very doubtful; the same hand that withheld your cross has seized your pamphlet; you are being murdered with premeditation.""If you know who that dangerous enemy is," said Thuillier, "you can't refuse to point him out to me.""I don't know him," replied la Peyrade; "I only suspect him. This is what you get by playing too shrewd a game.""Playing a shrewd game!" said Thuillier, with the curiosity of a man who is perfectly aware that he has nothing of that kind on his conscience.
"Yes," said la Peyrade, "you made a sort of decoy of Celeste to attract young bloods to your salon. All the world has not the forbearance of Monsieur Godeschal, who forgave his rejection and generously managed that affair about the house.""Explain yourself better," said Thuillier, "for I don't see what you mean.""Nothing is easier to understand. Without counting me, how many suitors have you had for Mademoiselle Colleville? Godeschal, Minard junior, Phellion junior, Olivier Vinet, the substitute judge,--all men who have been sent about their business, as I am.""Olivier Vinet, the substitute judge!" cried Thuillier, struck with a flash of light. "Of course; the blow must have come from him. His father, they say, has a long arm. But it can't be truly said that we sent him about his business,--to use your expression, which strikes me as indecorous,--for he never came to the house but once, and made no offer; neither did Minard junior or Phellion junior, for that matter.
Godeschal is the only one who risked a direct proposal, and he was refused at once, before he dipped his beak in the water.""It is always so!" said la Peyrade, still looking for a ground of quarrel. "Straightforward and outspoken persons are always those that sly men boast of fooling.""Ah ca! what's all this?" said Thuillier; "what are you insinuating?