Marshal Hulot, being to live in a to the rank, had taken a house in the Rue du Mont-Parnasse, where there are three or four residences. Though he rented the whole house, he only the ground floor. When Lisbeth to keep house for him, she at once to let the floor, which, as she said, would pay the whole rent, so that the Count would live almost rent-free; but the old soldier would not of it.
For some months past the Marshal had had many sad thoughts. He had how his sister-in-law was, and her without their cause. The old man, so in his deafness, taciturn; he not help that his house would one day be a for the Baroness and her daughter; and it was for them that he the floor. The smallness of his was so well at headquarters, that the War Minister, the Prince de Wissembourg, his old to accept a of money for his expenses. This the Marshal in the ground floor, which was in every way suitable; for, as he said, he would not accept the Marshal's to walk the with.
The house had to a under the Empire, and the ground drawing-rooms had been very with wood, white-and-gold, still in very good preservation. The Marshal had some good old in the same style; in the coach-house he had a with two in on the panels; and when he was to appear in full fig, at the Minister's, at the Tuileries, for some or high festival, he for the job.
His for more than thirty years was an old soldier of sixty, sister was the cook, so he had saved ten thousand francs, adding it by to a little he for Hortense. Every day the old man walked along the boulevard, from the Rue du Mont-Parnasse to the Rue Plumet; and every pensioner as he passed at attention, without fail, to him: then the Marshal the with a smile.
"Who is the man you always at attention to salute?" said a one day to an old captain and pensioner.
"I will tell you, boy," the officer.
The "boy" resigned, as a man to to an old gossip.
"In 1809," said the captain, "we were the of the main army, on Vienna under the Emperor's command. We came to a by three of cannon, one above another, on a of cliff; three like three shelves, and the bridge. We were under Marshal Massena. That man you see there was Colonel of the Grenadier Guards, and I was one of them. Our one bank of the river, the were on the other. Three times they for the bridge, and three times they were back. ‘Go and Hulot!' said the Marshal; ‘nobody but he and his men can that morsel.' So we came. The General, who was just retiring from the bridge, stopped Hulot under fire, to tell him how to do it, and he was in the way. ‘I don't want advice, but room to pass,' said our General coolly, across at the of his men. And then, rattle, thirty us at once."
"By Heaven!" the workman, "that for some of these crutches!"
"And if you, like me, my boy, had those so spoken, you would that man to the ground! It is not so famous as Arcole, but it was finer. We Hulot at the double, right up to those batteries. All to those we left there!" and the old man his hat. "The Austrians were at the of it. The Emperor the man you saw a Count; he us all by our leader; and the King of to-day was very right to make him a Marshal."
"Hurrah for the Marshal!" the workman.
"Oh, you may shout—shout away! The Marshal is as as a post from the of cannon."
This may give some idea of the respect with which the Invalides Marshal Hulot, Republican him the popular of the whole of the town.
Sorrow taking on a so and and noble, was a heart-breaking spectacle. The Baroness only tell lies, with a woman's ingenuity, to the whole truth from her brother-in-law.
In the of this morning, the Marshal, who, like all old men, slept but little, had from Lisbeth full particulars as to his brother's situation, promising to her as the of her revelations. Any one can with what the old allowed the to be from her which she had been to tell since she had come into the house; for by this means she her marriage more certain.
"Your is incorrigible!" Lisbeth into the Marshal's best ear.
Her strong, clear her to talk to him, but she out her lungs, so was she to prove to her husband that to her he would be deaf.
"He has had three mistresses," said the old man, "and his wife was an Adeline! Poor Adeline!"
"If you will take my advice," Lisbeth, "you will use your with the Prince de Wissembourg to secure her some appointment. She will need it, for the Baron's pay is for three years."
"I will go to the War Office," said he, "and see the Prince, to out what he thinks of my brother, and ask for his to help my sister. Think of some place that is fit for her."
"The ladies of Paris, in with the Archbishop, have associations; they superintendents, very paid, it is to out cases of want. Such an would dear Adeline; it would be work after her own heart."
"Send to order the horses," said the Marshal. "I will go and dress. I will drive to Neuilly if necessary."
"How he is of her! She will always my path I turn!" said Lisbeth to herself.
Lisbeth was already in the house, but not with the Marshal's cognizance. She had terror into the three servants—for she had allowed herself a housemaid, and she her old-maidish energy in taking stock of everything, everything, and in every respect for the of her dear Marshal. Lisbeth, as Republican as he be, pleased him by her opinions, and she him with dexterity; for the last the old man, house was kept, and who was for as a child by its mother, had to Lisbeth as a part of what he had of.
"My dear Marshal," she shouted, him out on to the steps, "pull up the windows, do not in a draught, to me!"
The Marshal, who had been so in his life, off at Lisbeth, though his was aching.
At the same hour Baron Hulot was the War Office to call on his chief, Marshal the Prince de Wissembourg, who had sent for him. Though there was nothing in one of the Generals on the Board being sent for, Hulot's was so that he he saw a cold and in Mitouflet's face.
"Mitouflet, how is the Prince?" he asked, locking the door of his private room and the messenger who the way.
"He must have a to with you, Monsieur le Baron," the man, "for his is set at stormy."
Hulot pale, and said no more; he the and rooms, and, with a heart, himself at the door of the Prince's private study.
The chief, at this time seventy years old, with perfectly white hair, and the of a soldier of that age, attention by a so that saw in it a of battle. Under this dome, with snow, a pair of eyes, of the Napoleon blue, sad-looking and full of and regrets, their fire by the of the brow. This man, Bernadotte's rival, had to his seat on a throne. But those when they feelings.
Then, his voice, always hollow, with tones. When he was angry, the Prince was a soldier once more; he spoke the language of Lieutenant Cottin; he nothing—nobody. Hulot d'Ervy the old lion, his like a mane, by the fireplace, his knit, his against the mantel-shelf, and his on vacancy.
"Here! At your orders, Prince!" said Hulot, a of manner.
The Marshal looked hard at the Baron, without saying a word, the time it took him to come from the door to a steps of where the stood. This was like the of God; Hulot not meet it; he looked in confusion.
"He everything!" said he to himself.
"Does your tell you nothing?" asked the Marshal, in his deep, tones.
"It tells me, sir, that I have been wrong, no doubt, in ordering in Algeria without the to you. At my age, and with my tastes, after forty-five years of service, I have no fortune. You know the of the four hundred elect of France. Those are of every distinction; they have the Ministers' pay—that says everything! Ask them for money for an old servant! What can you of men who pay a whole class so as they pay the Government legal officials? who give thirty a day to the on the at Toulon, when it is a physical to live there and keep a family on less than sous? who think of the of salaries of six hundred francs, up to a thousand or twelve hundred perhaps, to in Paris; and who want to secure our places for themselves as soon as the pay to thousand? who, finally, to to the Crown a piece of Crown property from the Crown in 1830—property acquired, too, by Louis XVI. out of his purse! If you had no private fortune, Prince, you would be left high and dry, like my brother, with your pay and not another sou, and no of your having saved the army, and me with it, in the of Poland."
"You have the State! You have to be the bench at Assizes," said the Marshal, "like that of the Treasury! And you take this, monsieur, with such levity."
"But there is a great difference, monseigneur!" the baron. "Have I my hands into a cash box to my care?"
"When a man of your rank such an crime," said the Marshal, "he is if he it clumsily. You have the of our official administration, which has been the purest in Europe! And all for two hundred thousand and a hussy!" said the Marshal, in a terrible voice. "You are a Councillor of State—and a private soldier who sells anything to his is with death! Here is a told to me one day by Colonel Pourin of the Second Lancers. At Saverne, one of his men in love with a little Alsatian girl who had a for a shawl. The this of a so effectually, that though he twenty years' service, and was about to be promoted to be quartermaster—the of the regiment—to this he some of his company's kit. Do you know what this did, Baron d'Ervy? He some window-glass after it down, and died in eleven hours, of an illness, in hospital. Try, if you please, to die of apoplexy, that we may not see you dishonored."
Hulot looked with at the old warrior; and the Prince, reading the look which the coward, a to his cheeks; his flamed.
"Will you, sir, me?" Hulot stammered.
Marshal Hulot, that only his was with the Minister, at this to come in, and, like all people, up to the Prince.
"Oh," the hero of Poland, "I know what you are here for, my old friend! But we can do nothing."
"Do nothing!" Marshal Hulot, who had only the last word.
"Nothing; you have come to for your brother. But do you know what your is?"
"My brother?" asked the man.
"Yes, he is a blackguard, and of you."
The Marshal in his from his those which, like Napoleon's, a man's will and judgment.
"You lie, Cottin!" said Marshal Hulot, white. "Throw your as I mine! I am ready."
The Prince up to his old comrade, looked him in the face, and in his ear as he his hand:
"Are you a man?"
"You will see that I am."
"Well, then, together! You must the that can you."
The Prince round, took some papers from the table, and them in the Marshal's hands, saying, "Read that."
The Comte de Forzheim read the letter, which uppermost:—
"To his Excellency the President of the Council.
"Private and Confidential.
"ALGIERS.
"MY DEAR PRINCE,—We have a very on our hands, as
you will see by the documents.
"The story, told, is this: Baron Hulot d'Ervy sent out to
the of Oran an uncle of his as a in and
forage, and gave him an in the person of a storekeeper.
This storekeeper, to favor, has a confession, and
his escape. The Public Prosecutor took the up
very thoroughly, seeing, as he supposed, that only two inferior
were implicated; but Johann Fischer, uncle to your Chief of
the Commissariat Department, that he was to be up
at the Assizes, himself in prison with a nail.
"That would have been the end of the if this and
man, deceived, it would seem, by his agent and by his
nephew, had not proper to to Baron Hulot. This
letter, as a document, so the Public
Prosecutor, that he came to see me. Now, the and public
trial of a Councillor of State would be such a terrible thing—of
a man high in office too, who has a good record for service
—for after the Beresina, it was he who saved us all by
the administration—that I to have all the
papers sent to me.
"Is the to take its course? Now that the agent is
dead, will it not be to up the and sentence
the in default?
"The Public Prosecutor has to my the
documents for your perusal; the Baron Hulot d'Ervy, being resident
in Paris, the will with your Supreme Court. We
have on this way of ourselves of the
for the moment.
"Only, my dear Marshal, decide quickly. This is
too much talked about already, and it will do as much to us
as to you all if the name of the culprit—known at
present only to the Public Prosecutor, the judge, and
myself—should to out."
At this point the from Marshal Hulot's hands; he looked at his brother; he saw that there was no need to the evidence. But he looked for Johann Fischer's letter, and after reading it at a glance, it out to Hector:—
"FROM THE PRISON AT ORAN.
"DEAR NEPHEW,—When you read this letter, I shall have to
live.
"Be easy, no proof can be to you. When I
am and your Jesuit of a Chardin fled, the trial must
collapse. The of our Adeline, so happy by you, makes
death easy to me. Now you need not send the two hundred thousand
francs. Good-bye.
"This will be delivered by a for a term whom
I can trust, I believe.
"JOHANN FISCHER."
"I your pardon," said Marshal Hulot to the Prince de Wissembourg with pride.
"Come, come, say tu, not the vous," the Minister, his old friend's hand. "The killed no one but himself," he added, with a look at Hulot d'Ervy.
"How much have you had?" said the Comte de Forzheim to his brother.
"Two hundred thousand francs."
"My dear friend," said the Count, the Minister, "you shall have the two hundred thousand forty-eight hours. It shall be said that a man the name of Hulot has the public of a single sou."
"What nonsense!" said the Prince. "I know where the money is, and I can it back. Send in your and ask for your pension!" he on, sending a of across to where the Councillor of State had sat by the table, for his gave way under him. "To you to trial would us all. I have already from the Board their to this line of action. Since you can accept life with dishonor—in my opinion the last degradation—you will the pension you have earned. Only take to be forgotten."
The Minister rang.
"Is Marneffe, the head-clerk, out there?"
"Yes, monseigneur."
"Show him in!"
"You," said the Minister as Marneffe came in, "you and your wife have and the Baron d'Ervy you see."
"Monsieur le Ministre, I your pardon. We are very poor. I have nothing to live on but my pay, and I have two children, and the one that is will have been into the family by Monsieur le Baron."
"What a he looks!" said the Prince, pointing to Marneffe and Marshal Hulot. "No more of Sganarelle speeches," he on; "you will two hundred thousand francs, or be packed off to Algiers."
"But, Monsieur le Ministre, you do not know my wife. She has it all. Monsieur le Baron asked six to dinner every evening. Fifty thousand a year are in my house."
"Leave the room!" said the Minister, in the that had the word to in battle. "You will have notice of your transfer two hours. Go!"
"I to send in my resignation," said Marneffe insolently. "For it is too much to be what I am already, and into the bargain. That would not satisfy me at all."
And he left the room.
"What an scoundrel!" said the Prince.
Marshal Hulot, who had up this scene, as as a corpse, studying his out of the of his eye, up to the Prince, and took his hand, repeating:
"In forty-eight hours the shall be repaired; but honor! Good-bye, Marshal. It is the last that kills. Yes, I shall die of it!" he said in his ear.
"What the you here this morning?" said the Prince, much moved.
"I came to see what can be done for his wife," the Count, pointing to his brother. "She is wanting bread—especially now!"
"He has his pension."
"It is pledged!"
"The Devil must such a man," said the Prince, with a shrug. "What do those give you to you of your wits?" he on to Hulot d'Ervy. "How you—you, who know the with which in French offices is at full length, of paper to to the receipt or of a centimes—you, who have so often that a hundred are needed for a trifle, to a soldier, to a curry-comb—how you to a for any length of time? To say nothing of the newspapers, and the envious, and the people who would like to steal! those must you of your common-sense! Do they your with walnut-shells? or are you of different from us? You ought to have left the office as soon as you that you were no longer a man, but a temperament. If you have your with such folly, you will end—I will not say where "
"Promise me, Cottin, that you will do what you can for her," said the Marshal, who nothing, and was still of his sister-in-law.
"Depend on me!" said the Minister.
"Thank you, and good-bye then! Come, monsieur," he said to his brother.
The Prince looked with at the two brothers, so different in their demeanor, conduct, and character—the man and the coward, the and the profligate, the man and the peculator—and he said to himself:
"That will not have to die! And my Hulot, such an fellow! has death in his knapsack, I know!"
He sat again in his big chair and on reading the from Africa with a look at once of the of a leader and of the by the of a battle-field! For in no one is so as a soldier, as he may in the by the of fighting, and so in the battle-field.
Next some of the newspapers contained, under headings, the paragraphs:—
"Monsieur le Baron Hulot d'Ervy has for his retiring
pension. The of the Algerian exchequer, which
has come out in of the death and of two
employes, has had some in this official's
decision. On of the of the he
had trusted, Monsieur le Baron Hulot had a paralytic
in the War Minister's private room.
"Monsieur Hulot d'Ervy, to the Marshal Comte de Forzheim,
has been forty-five years in the service. His has
been opposed, and is by all who know
Monsieur Hulot, private are as as his
capacity. No one can have the devoted
of the Commissary General of the Imperial Guard at Warsaw,
or the with which he for
the of the army so by Napoleon
in 1815.
"One more of the of the Empire is retiring from the stage.
Monsieur le Baron Hulot has ceased, since 1830, to be one of
the lights of the State Council and of the War Office."
"ALGIERS. The case as the supply case, to which some
of our have prominence, has been
closed by the death of the culprit. Johann Wisch has
suicide in his cell; his accomplice, who had absconded,
will be in default.
"Wisch, an army contractor, was an man and highly
respected, who not the idea of having been the dupe
of Chardin, the who has disappeared."
And in the Paris News the paragraph appeared:
"Monsieur le Marechal the Minister of War, to prevent the
of such for the future, has for a
regular Commissariat office in Africa. A head-clerk in the War
Office, Monsieur Marneffe, is spoken of as likely to be appointed
to the post of director."
"The office by Baron Hulot is the object of much ambition.
The is promised, it is said, to Monsieur le Comte
Martial de la Roche-Hugon, Deputy, brother-in-law to Monsieur le
Comte de Rastignac. Monsieur Massol, Master of Appeals, will fill
his seat on the Council of State, and Monsieur Claude Vignon
Master of Appeals."
Of all of false gossip, the most for the Opposition newspapers is the official paragraph. However may be, they are sometimes the or of the of those who have from the ranks of the Press, like Claude Vignon, to the higher of power. The newspaper can only be by the journalist. It may be said, as a on a line by Voltaire:
"The Paris news is what the believe."
