第98章

They could not sell the furniture,for it had been attached;there was not a single object of any value in the house.A goodly collection of pawntickets,forming a very instructive octavo volume,represented all the gold,silver,and jewelry.Berenice had kept back a couple of spoons and forks,that was all.

Lousteau's newspaper was of service now to Coralie and Lucien,little as they suspected it;for the tailor,dressmaker,and milliner were afraid to meddle with a journalist who was quite capable of writing down their establishments.

Etienne Lousteau broke in upon their breakfast with a shout of "Hurrah!Long live The Archer of Charles IX.!And I have converted a hundred francs worth of books into cash,children.We will go halves."He handed fifty francs to Coralie,and sent Berenice out in quest of a more substantial breakfast.

"Hector Merlin and I went to a booksellers'trade dinner yesterday,and prepared the way for your romance with cunning insinuations.

Dauriat is in treaty,but Dauriat is haggling over it;he won't give more than four thousand francs for two thousand copies,and you want six thousand francs.We made you out twice as great as Sir Walter Scott!Oh!you have such novels as never were in the inwards of you.

It is not a mere book for sale,it is a big business;you are not simply the writer of one more or less ingenious novel,you are going to write a whole series.The word 'series'did it!So,mind you,don't forget that you have a great historical series on hand--La Grande Mademoiselle,or The France of Louis Quatorze;Cotillon I.,or the Early Days of Louis Quinze;The Queen and the Cardinal,or Paris and the Fronde;The Son of the Concini,or Richelieu's Intrigue.These novels will be announced on the wrapper of the book.We call this manoeuvre 'giving a success a toss in the coverlet,'for the titles are all to appear on the cover,till you will be better known for the books that you have not written than for the work you have done.And 'In the Press'is a way of gaining credit in advance for work that you will do.Come,now,let us have a little fun!Here comes the champagne.You can understand,Lucien,that our men opened eyes as big as saucers.By the by,I see that you have saucers still left.""They are attached,"explained Coralie.

"I understand,and I resume.Show a publisher one manu volume and he will believe in all the rest.A publisher asks to see your manu,and gives you to understand that he is going to read it.

Why disturb his harmless vanity?They never read a manu;they would not publish so many if they did.Well,Hector and I allowed it to leak out that you might consider an offer of five thousand francs for three thousand copies,in two editions.Let me have your Archer;the day after to-morrow we are to breakfast with the publishers,and we will get the upper hand of them.""Who are they?"asked Lucien.

"Two partners named Fendant and Cavalier;they are two good fellows,pretty straightforward in business.One of them used to be with Vidal and Porchon,the other is the cleverest hand on the Quai des Augustins.They only started in business last year,and have lost a little on translations of English novels;so now my gentlemen have a mind to exploit the native product.There is a rumor current that those dealers in spoiled white paper are trading on other people's capital;but I don't think it matters very much to you who finds the money,so long as you are paid."Two days later,the pair went to a breakfast in the Rue Serpente,in Lucien's old quarter of Paris.Lousteau still kept his room in the Rue de la Harpe;and it was in the same state as before,but this time Lucien felt no surprise;he had been initiated into the life of journalism;he knew all its ups and downs.Since that evening of his introduction to the Wooden Galleries,he had been paid for many an article,and gambled away the money along with the desire to write.He had filled columns,not once but many times,in the ingenious ways described by Lousteau on that memorable evening as they went to the Palais Royal.He was dependent upon Barbet and Braulard;he trafficked in books and theatre-tickets;he shrank no longer from any attack,from writing any panegyric;and at this moment he was in some sort rejoicing to make all he could out of Lousteau before turning his back on the Liberals.His intimate knowledge of the party would stand him in good stead in future.And Lousteau,on his side,was privately receiving five hundred francs of purchase-money,under the name of commission,from Fendant and Cavalier for introducing the future Sir Walter Scott to two enterprising tradesmen in search of a French Author of "Waverley."The firm of Fendant and Cavalier had started in business without any capital whatsoever.A great many publishing houses were established at that time in the same way,and are likely to be established so long as papermakers and printers will give credit for the time required to play some seven or eight of the games of chance called "new publications."At that time,as at present,the author's copyright was paid for in bills at six,nine,and twelve months--a method of payment determined by the custom of the trade,for booksellers settle accounts between themselves by bills at even longer dates.Papermakers and printers are paid in the same way,so that in practice the publisher-bookseller has a dozen or a score of works on sale for a twelvemonth before he pays for them.Even if only two or three of these hit the public taste,the profitable speculations pay for the bad,and the publisher pays his way by grafting,as it were,one book upon another.