France -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction; French fiction -- Translations into English
Europe picked up the paper and read with greedy eyes all the details, of
which for twenty years the papers have never been tired, as to the death
of convicted criminals: the impressive scene, the chaplain--who has
always converted the victim--the hardened criminal preaching to his
fellow convicts, the battery of guns, the convicts on their knees; and
then the twaddle and reflections which never lead to any change in the
management of the prisons where eighteen hundred crimes are herded.
“We must place Asie on the staff once more,” said Carlos.
Asie came forward, not understanding Europe’s pantomime.
“In bringing her back here as cook, you must begin by giving the Baron
such a dinner as he never ate in his life,” he went on. “Tell him that
Asie has lost all her money at play, and has taken service once more. We
shall not need an outdoor servant. Paccard shall be coachman. Coachmen
do not leave their box, where they are safe out of the way; and he will
run less risk from spies. Madame must turn him out in a powdered wig and
a braided felt cocked hat; that will alter his appearance. Besides, I
will make him us.”
“Are we going to have men-servants in the house?” asked Asie with a
leer.
“All honest folks,” said Carlos.
“All soft-heads,” retorted the mulatto.
“If the Baron takes a house, Paccard has a friend who will suit as the
lodge porter,” said Carlos. “Then we shall only need a footman and a
kitchen-maid, and you can surely keep an eye on two strangers----”
As Carlos was leaving, Paccard made his appearance.
“Wait a little while, there are people in the street,” said the man.
This simple statement was alarming. Carlos went up to Europe’s room, and
stayed there till Paccard came to fetch him, having called a hackney
cab that came into the courtyard. Carlos pulled down the blinds, and was
driven off at a pace that defied pursuit.
Having reached the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, he got out at a short
distance from a hackney coach stand, to which he went on foot, and
thence returned to the Quai Malaquais, escaping all inquiry.
“Here, child,” said he to Lucien, showing him four hundred banknotes for
a thousand francs, “here is something on account for the purchase of
the estates of Rubempre. We will risk a hundred thousand. Omnibuses
have just been started; the Parisians will take to the novelty; in three
months we shall have trebled our capital. I know the concern; they will
pay splendid dividends taken out of the capital, to put a head on the
shares--an old idea of Nucingen’s revived. If we acquire the Rubempre
land, we shall not have to pay on the nail.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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