第46章

"If you are conscientious and give your conclusions against the powers that be, you are lost," continued she."Now, at this moment, you might turn your position to account to make a fine match that would put you above unlucky chances for the rest of your life; you may marry a wife with fortune sufficient to land you on the bench, in the magistrature assise.There is a fine chance for you.M.du Croisier will never have any children; everybody knows why.His money, and his wife's as well, will go to his niece, Mlle.Duval.M.Duval is an ironmaster, his purse is tolerably filled, to begin with, and his father is still alive, and has a little property besides.The father and son have a million of francs between them; they will double it with du Croisier's help, for du Croisier has business connections among great capitalists and manufacturers in Paris.M.and Mme.Duval the younger would be certain to give their daughter to a suitor brought forward by du Croisier, for he is sure to leave two fortunes to his niece; and, in all probability, he will settle the reversion of his wife's property upon Mlle.Duval in the marriage contract, for Mme.du Croisier has no kin.You know how du Croisier hates the d'Esgrignons.Do him a service, be his man, take up this charge of forgery which he is going to make against young d'Esgrignon, and follow up the proceedings at once without consulting the public prosecutor at Paris.And, then, pray Heaven that the Ministry dismisses you for doing your office impartially, in spite of the powers that be; for if they do, your fortune is made! You will have a charming wife and thirty thousand francs a year with her, to say nothing of four millions expectations in ten years' time."In two evenings Sauvager was talked over.Both he and the President kept the affair a secret from old Blondet, from Michu, and from the second member of the staff of prosecuting counsel.Feeling sure of Blondet's impartiality on a question of fact, the President made certain of a majority without counting Camusot.And now Camusot's unexpected defection had thrown everything out.What the President wanted was a committal for trial before the public prosecutor got warning.How if Camusot or the second counsel for the prosecution should send word to Paris?

And here some portion of Camusot's private history may perhaps explain how it came to pass that Chesnel took it for granted that the examining magistrate would be on the d'Esgrignons' side, and how he had the boldness to tamper in the open street with that representative of justice.

Camusot's father, a well-known silk mercer in the Rue des Bourdonnais, was ambitious for the only son of his first marriage, and brought him up to the law.When Camusot junior took a wife, he gained with her the influence of an usher of the Royal cabinet, backstairs influence, it is true, but still sufficient, since it had brought him his first appointment as justice of the peace, and the second as examining magistrate.At the time of his marriage, his father only settled an income of six thousand francs upon him (the amount of his mother's fortune, which he could legally claim), and as Mlle.Thirion brought him no more than twenty thousand francs as her portion, the young couple knew the hardships of hidden poverty.The salary of a provincial justice of the peace does not exceed fifteen hundred francs, while an examining magistrate's stipend is augmented by something like a thousand francs, because his position entails expenses and extra work.The post, therefore, is much coveted, though it is not permanent, and the work is heavy, and that was why Mme.

Camusot had just scolded her husband for allowing the President to read his thoughts.

Marie Cecile Amelie Thirion, after three years of marriage, perceived the blessing of Heaven upon it in the regularity of two auspicious events--the births of a girl and a boy; but she prayed to be less blessed in the future.A few more of such blessings would turn straitened means into distress.M.Camusot's father's money was not likely to come to them for a long time; and, rich as he was, he would scarcely leave more than eight or ten thousand francs a year to each of his children, four in number, for he had been married twice.And besides, by the time that all "expectations," as matchmakers call them, were realized, would not the magistrate have children of his own to settle in life? Any one can imagine the situation for a little woman with plenty of sense and determination, and Mme.Camusot was such a woman.She did not refrain from meddling in matters judicial.

She had far too strong a sense of the gravity of a false step in her husband's career.