Page:Ten Years Later.djvu/31

Rh "Humph!" murmured Malicorue, as he descended the stairs. "Humph! there is another note of a thousand livres that will cost me; but I must get through as well as I can; my friend Manicamp does nothing for nothing."

CHAPTER IV.

MALICORNE AND MANICAMP.

introduction of these two new personages into this history, and that mysterious affinity of names and sentiments, merit some attention on the part of the historian and the reader. We will then enter into some details concerning M. Malicorne and M. Manicamp. Malicorne, we know, had made the journey to Orleans in search of the brevet destined for Mile, de Montalais, the arrival of which had produced such a strong feeling at the castle of Blois. At that moment M. de Manicamp was at Orleans. A singular personage was this M. de Manicamp; a very intelligent young fellow, always jjoor, always needy, although he dipped his hand freely into the purse of M. le Comte de Guiche, one of the best-furnished purses of the period. M. le Comte de Guiche had had, as the companion of his boy- hood, this De Manicamp, a poor gentleman, vassal-born, of the house of Grammont. M. de Manicamp, with his acuteness, had created himself a revenue in the opulent family of the celebrated marechal. From his infancy he had, by a calculation much above his age, lent his name and his complaisance to the follies of the Comte de Guiche. If his noble companion had stolen some fruit destined for Mme. la Marechale, if he had broken a mirror, or put out a dog's eye, Manicamp declared himself guilty of the crime committed, and received the punishment, which was not made the more mild for falling upon the innocent. But this was the way in which this system of abnegation was paid for; instead of wearing such mean habiliments as his paternal fortunes entitled him to, he was able to appear brilliant, superb, like a young noble of fifty thousand livres a year. It was not that he was mean in character or humble in spirit; no, he was a philosopher, or rather, he had the indifference, the apathy, the extravagance which banish from man every feeling of the hierarchical world. His sole ambition was to spend money. But in this respect the worthy M. de Manicamp was a gulf. Three or four times every year he