A Start in Life [51]
father, and you can count on me as on--on
an uncle in America," added the count, laughing. "But you are too
young to have pupils of your own; to whom does Mistigris really
belong?"
"To my friend Schinner, who lent him to me," said Joseph. "Mistigris'
name is Leon de Lora. Monseigneur, if you knew my father, will you
deign to think of his other son, who is now accused of plotting
against the State, and is soon to be tried before the Court of Peers?"
"Ah! that's true," said the count. "Yes, I will think about it, be
sure of that. As for Colonel Czerni-Georges, the friend of Ali Pacha,
and Mina's aide-de-camp--" he continued, walking up to Georges.
"He! why that's my second clerk!" cried Crottat.
"You are quite mistaken, Maitre Crottat," said the count, assuming a
stern air. "A clerk who intends to be a notary does not leave
important deeds in a diligence at the mercy of other travellers;
neither does he spend twenty francs between Paris and Moisselles; or
expose himself to be arrested as a deserter--"
"Monseigneur," said Georges Marest, "I may have amused myself with the
bourgeois in the diligence, but--"
"Let his Excellency finish what he was saying," said the notary,
digging his elbow into his clerk's ribs.
"A notary," continued the count, "ought to practise discretion,
shrewdness, caution from the start; he should be incapable of such a
blunder as taking a peer of France for a tallow-chandler--"
"I am willing to be blamed for my faults," said Georges; "but I never
left my deeds at the mercy of--"
"Now you are committing the fault of contradicting the word of a
minister of State, a gentleman, an old man, and a client," said the
count. "Give me that deed of sale."
Georges turned over and over the papers in his portfolio.
"That will do; don't disarrange those papers," said the count, taking
the deed from his pocket. "Here is what you are looking for."
Crottat turned the paper back and forth, so astonished was he at
receiving it from the hands of his client.
"What does this mean, monsieur?" he said, finally, to Georges.
"If I had not taken it," said the count, "Pere Leger,--who is by no
means such a ninny as you thought him from his questions about
agriculture, by which he showed that he attended to his own business,
--Pere Leger might have seized that paper and guessed my purpose. You
must give me the pleasure of dining with me, but one on condition,--
that of describing, as you promised, the execution of the Muslim of
Smyrna, and you must also finish the memoirs of some client which you
have certainly read to be so well informed."
"Schlague for blague!" said Leon de Lora, in a whisper, to Joseph
Bridau.
"Gentlemen," said the count to the two notaries and Messieurs
Margueron and de Reybert, "let us go into the next room and conclude
this business before dinner, because, as my friend Mistigris would
say: 'Qui esurit constentit.'"
"Well, he is very good-natured," said Leon de Lora to Georges Marest,
when the count had left the room.
"Yes, HE may be, but my master isn't," said Georges, "and he will
request me to go and blaguer somewhere else."
"Never mind, you like travel," said Bridau.
"What a dressing that boy will get from Monsieur and Madame Moreau!"
cried Mistigris.
"Little idiot!" said Georges. "If it hadn't been for him the count
would have been amused. Well, anyhow, the lesson is a good one; and if
ever again I am caught bragging in a public coach--"
"It is a stupid thing to do," said Joseph Bridau.
"And common," added Mistigris. "'Vulgarity is the brother of
pretension.'"
While the matter of the sale was being settled between Monsieur
Margueron and the Comte de Serizy, assisted by their respective
notaries in presence of Monsieur de Reybert, the ex-steward walked
with slow steps to his own house. There he entered the salon and sat
an uncle in America," added the count, laughing. "But you are too
young to have pupils of your own; to whom does Mistigris really
belong?"
"To my friend Schinner, who lent him to me," said Joseph. "Mistigris'
name is Leon de Lora. Monseigneur, if you knew my father, will you
deign to think of his other son, who is now accused of plotting
against the State, and is soon to be tried before the Court of Peers?"
"Ah! that's true," said the count. "Yes, I will think about it, be
sure of that. As for Colonel Czerni-Georges, the friend of Ali Pacha,
and Mina's aide-de-camp--" he continued, walking up to Georges.
"He! why that's my second clerk!" cried Crottat.
"You are quite mistaken, Maitre Crottat," said the count, assuming a
stern air. "A clerk who intends to be a notary does not leave
important deeds in a diligence at the mercy of other travellers;
neither does he spend twenty francs between Paris and Moisselles; or
expose himself to be arrested as a deserter--"
"Monseigneur," said Georges Marest, "I may have amused myself with the
bourgeois in the diligence, but--"
"Let his Excellency finish what he was saying," said the notary,
digging his elbow into his clerk's ribs.
"A notary," continued the count, "ought to practise discretion,
shrewdness, caution from the start; he should be incapable of such a
blunder as taking a peer of France for a tallow-chandler--"
"I am willing to be blamed for my faults," said Georges; "but I never
left my deeds at the mercy of--"
"Now you are committing the fault of contradicting the word of a
minister of State, a gentleman, an old man, and a client," said the
count. "Give me that deed of sale."
Georges turned over and over the papers in his portfolio.
"That will do; don't disarrange those papers," said the count, taking
the deed from his pocket. "Here is what you are looking for."
Crottat turned the paper back and forth, so astonished was he at
receiving it from the hands of his client.
"What does this mean, monsieur?" he said, finally, to Georges.
"If I had not taken it," said the count, "Pere Leger,--who is by no
means such a ninny as you thought him from his questions about
agriculture, by which he showed that he attended to his own business,
--Pere Leger might have seized that paper and guessed my purpose. You
must give me the pleasure of dining with me, but one on condition,--
that of describing, as you promised, the execution of the Muslim of
Smyrna, and you must also finish the memoirs of some client which you
have certainly read to be so well informed."
"Schlague for blague!" said Leon de Lora, in a whisper, to Joseph
Bridau.
"Gentlemen," said the count to the two notaries and Messieurs
Margueron and de Reybert, "let us go into the next room and conclude
this business before dinner, because, as my friend Mistigris would
say: 'Qui esurit constentit.'"
"Well, he is very good-natured," said Leon de Lora to Georges Marest,
when the count had left the room.
"Yes, HE may be, but my master isn't," said Georges, "and he will
request me to go and blaguer somewhere else."
"Never mind, you like travel," said Bridau.
"What a dressing that boy will get from Monsieur and Madame Moreau!"
cried Mistigris.
"Little idiot!" said Georges. "If it hadn't been for him the count
would have been amused. Well, anyhow, the lesson is a good one; and if
ever again I am caught bragging in a public coach--"
"It is a stupid thing to do," said Joseph Bridau.
"And common," added Mistigris. "'Vulgarity is the brother of
pretension.'"
While the matter of the sale was being settled between Monsieur
Margueron and the Comte de Serizy, assisted by their respective
notaries in presence of Monsieur de Reybert, the ex-steward walked
with slow steps to his own house. There he entered the salon and sat