Page:Ten Years Later.djvu/171

Rh "Of the one hundred and fifty thousand to Baisemaux."

"Baisemaux — who is he?"

"The governor of the Bastile."

"Yes, I remember; on what grounds am I to pay one hundred and fifty thousand for that man?"

"On account of the appointment which he, or rather we, purchased from Louviere and Tremblay."

"I have a very vague recollection of the whole matter."

"That is likely enough, for you have so many affairs to attend to. However, I do not believe you have any affair of greater importance than this one."

"Tell me, then, why we purchased this appointment."

"Why, in order to render him a service in the first place, and afterward ourselves."

"Ourselves? You are joking."

"Monseigneur, the time may come when the governor of the Bastile may prove a very excellent acquaintance."

"I have not the good fortune to understand you, D'Herblay."

"Monseigneur, we have our own poets, our own engineer, our own architect, our own musicians, our own printer, and our own painters; we needed our own governor of the Bastile."

"Do you think so?"

"Let us not deceive ourselves, monseigneur; we are very much opposed to paying the Bastile a visit," added the prelate, displaying, beneath his pale lips, teeth which were still the same beautiful teeth so admired thirty years previously by Marie Michon.

"And you think it is not too much to pay one hundred and fifty thousand francs for that? I assure you that you generally put out your money at better interest than that."

"The day will come when you will admit your mistake."

"My dear D'Herblay, the very day on which a man enters the Bastile, he is no longer protected by the past."

"Yes, he is, if the bonds are perfectly regular; besides, that good fellow Baisemeaux has not a courtier's heart. I am certain, my lord, that he will not remain ungrateful for that money, without taking into account, I repeat, that I retain the acknowledgments."

"It is a strange affair; usury in a matter of benevolence."

"Do not mix yourself up with it, monseigneur, if there be usury; it is I who practice it, and both of us reap the advantage from it — that is all."

"Some intrigue, D'Herblay?"

"I do not deny it."