Part 12 (1/2)
”The people will rise”
”Yes, to go and meet him”
”He has but a handful of ainst him”
”Yes, to escort him into the capital Really, my dear Gerard, you are but a child; you think yourself well inforraph has told you, three days after the landing, 'The usurper has landed at Cannes with several ? You do not know at all, and in this way they will chase hier”
”Grenoble and Lyons are faithful cities, and will oppose to hiates to him with enthusiasm--all Lyons will hasten to welcome him Believe ood as your own Would you like a proof of it? well, you wished to conceal your journey from me, and yet I knew of your arrival half an hour after you had passed the barrier You gave your direction to no one but your postilion, yet I have your address, and in proof I a, then, if you please, for a second knife, fork, and plate, and ill dine together”
”Indeed!” replied Villefort, looking at his father with astonishment, ”you really do seeh You who are in power have only the means that money produces--ho are in expectation, have those which devotion prompts”
”Devotion!” said Villefort, with a sneer
”Yes, devotion; for that is, I believe, the phrase for hopeful ambition”
And Villefort's father extended his hand to the bell-rope, to suht his ar man, ”one word more”
”Say on”
”However stupid the royalist police ”
”What is that?”
”The description of theof the day when General Quesnel disappeared, presented himself at his house”
”Oh, the admirable police have found that out, have they? And what may be that description?”
”Dark complexion; hair, eyebrows, and whiskers, black; blue frock-coat, buttoned up to the chin; rosette of an officer of the Legion of Honor in his button-hole; a hat ide brim, and a cane”
”Ah, ha, that's it, is it?” said Noirtier; ”and why, then, have they not laid hands on hiht of him at the corner of the Rue Coq-Heron”
”Didn't I say that your police were good for nothing?”
”Yes; but theycarelessly around hiuard, as he is;” and he added with a ses in his personal appearance” At these words he rose, and put off his frock-coat and cravat, went towards a table on which lay his son's toilet articles, lathered his face, took a razor, and, with a fir whiskers Villefort watched him with alarm not devoid of adave another turn to his hair; took, instead of his black cravat, a colored neckerchief which lay at the top of an open porth-buttoned frock-coat, a coat of Villefort's of dark brown, and cut away in front; tried on before the glass a narrow-brimmed hat of his son's, which appeared to fit hi his cane in the corner where he had deposited it, he took up a small bamboo switch, cut the air with it once or twice, and walked about with that easy swagger which was one of his principal characteristics
”Well,” he said, turning towards his wondering son, when this disguise was conize me now”
”No, father,” stammered Villefort; ”at least, I hope not”
”And now, my dear boy,” continued Noirtier, ”I rely on your prudence to res which I leave in your care”
”Oh, rely on me,” said Villefort
”Yes, yes; and now I believe you are right, and that you have really saved my life; be assured I will return the favor hereafter” Villefort shook his head
”You are not convinced yet?”
”I hope at least, that you ain?”
”Perhaps”
”Would you pass in his eyes for a prophet?”
”Prophets of evil are not in favor at the court, father”
”True, but so a second restoration, you would then pass for a great ?”
”Say this to hi in France, as to the opinions of the towns, and the prejudices of the arre, who at Nevers is styled the usurper, is already saluted as Bonaparte at Lyons, and emperor at Grenoble You think he is tracked, pursued, captured; he is advancing as rapidly as his own eagles The soldiers you believe to be dying with hunger, worn out with fatigue, ready to desert, gather like ato ball as it hastens onward Sire, go, leave France to its real ht of conquest; go, sire, not that you incur any risk, for your adversary is powerful enough to show you randson of Saint Louis to owe his life to the o, Austerlitz' Tell hi Keep your journey a secret; do not boast of what you have come to Paris to do, or have done; return with all speed; enter Marseilles at night, and your house by the back-door, and there remain, quiet, submissive, secret, and, above all, inoffensive; for this time, I swear to you, we shall act like powerful o, my dear Gerard, and by your obedience to my paternal orders, or, if you prefer it, friendly counsels, ill keep you in your place This will be,” added Noirtier, with a smile, ”one means by which you may a second time save me, if the political balance should so ht at my door” Noirtier left the room when he had finished, with the sa the whole of this reitated, ran to the , put aside the curtain, and saw hi men at the corner of the street, ere there, perhaps, to arrest a man with black whiskers, and a blue frock-coat, and hat with broad bri, breathless, until his father had disappeared at the Rue Bussy Then he turned to the various articles he had left behind him, put the black cravat and blue frock-coat at the bottom of the portmanteau, threw the hat into a dark closet, broke the cane into s-cap, and calling his valet, checked with a look the thousand questions he was ready to ask, paid his bill, sprang into his carriage, which was ready, learned at Lyons that Bonaparte had entered Grenoble, and in the th reached Marseilles, a prey to all the hopes and fears which enter into the heart of man with ambition and its first successes
Chapter 13
The Hundred Days
M Noirtier was a true prophet, and things progressed rapidly, as he had predicted Every one knows the history of the famous return from Elba, a return which was unprecedented in the past, and will probably remain without a counterpart in the future
Louis XVIII made but a faint attempt to parry this unexpected blow; the monarchy he had scarcely reconstructed tottered on its precarious foundation, and at a sign froruous structure of ancient prejudices and new ideas fell to the ground Villefort, therefore, gained nothing save the king's gratitude (which was rather likely to injure hiion of Honor, which he had the prudence not to wear, although M de Blacas had duly forwarded the brevet
Napoleon would, doubtless, have deprived Villefort of his office had it not been for Noirtier, as all powerful at court, and thus the Girondin of '93 and the Senator of 1806 protected him who so lately had been his protector All Villefort's influence barely enabled hi's procureur alone was deprived of his office, being suspected of royalism
However, scarcely was the imperial power established--that is, scarcely had the eun to issue orders from the closet into which we have introduced our readers,--he found on the table there Louis XVIII's half-filled snuff-box,--scarcely had this occurred when Marseilles began, in spite of the authorities, to rekindle the fla in the south, and it required but little to excite the populace to acts of far greater violence than the shouts and insults hich they assailed the royalists whenever they ventured abroad
Owing to this change, the worthy shi+powner became at that moment--ill not say all powerful, because Morrel was a prudent and rather a timid man, so much so, that many of the most zealous partisans of Bonaparte accused him of ”moderation”--but sufficiently influential to make a demand in favor of Dantes
Villefort retained his place, but his e was put off until a more favorable opportunity If the emperor remained on the throne, Gerard required a different alliance to aid his career; if Louis XVIII returned, the influence of M de Saint-Meran, like his own, could be vastly increased, and the e be still more suitable The deputy-procureur was, therefore, the firsthis door opened, and M Morrel was announced
Any one else would have hastened to receive him; but Villefort was a n of weakness He h he had no one with hi's procureur alwaysa quarter of an hour in reading the papers, he ordered M Morrel to be admitted