"Where shall we get cash for these things?"asked Lucien as they came away,somewhat heated and flushed with the wine.
"We might try Barbet,"suggested Etienne,and they turned down to the Quai des Augustins.
"Coralie is astonished to the highest degree over Florine's loss.
Florine only told her about it yesterday;she seemed to lay the blame of it on you,and was so vexed,that she was ready to throw you over.""That's true,"said Lousteau.Wine had got the better of prudence,and he unbosomed himself to Lucien,ending up with:"My friend--for you are my friend,Lucien;you lent me a thousand francs,and you have only once asked me for the money--shun play!If I had never touched a card,I should be a happy man.I owe money all round.At this moment Ihave the bailiffs at my heels;indeed,when I go to the Palais Royal,I have dangerous capes to double."In the language of the fast set,doubling a cape meant dodging a creditor,or keeping out of his way.Lucien had not heard the expression before,but he was familiar with the practice by this time.
"Are your debts so heavy?"
"A mere trifle,"said Lousteau."A thousand crowns would pull me through.I have resolved to turn steady and give up play,and I have done a little 'chantage'to pay my debts.""What is 'chantage'?"asked Lucien.
"It is an English invention recently imported.A 'chanteur'is a man who can manage to put a paragraph in the papers--never an editor nor a responsible man,for they are not supposed to know anything about it,and there is always a Giroudeau or a Philippe Bridau to be found.Abravo of this stamp finds up somebody who has his own reasons for not wanting to be talked about.Plenty of people have a few peccadilloes,or some more or less original sin,upon their consciences;there are plenty of fortunes made in ways that would not bear looking into;sometimes a man has kept the letter of the law,and sometimes he has not;and in either case,there is a tidbit of tattle for the inquirer,as,for instance,that tale of Fouche's police surrounding the spies of the Prefect of Police,who,not being in the secret of the fabrication of forged English banknotes,were just about to pounce on the clandestine printers employed by the Minister,or there is the story of Prince Galathionne's diamonds,the Maubreuile affair,or the Pombreton will case.The 'chanteur'gets possession of some compromising letter,asks for an interview;and if the man that made the money does not buy silence,the 'chanteur'draws a picture of the press ready to take the matter up and unravel his private affairs.The rich man is frightened,he comes down with the money,and the trick succeeds.
"You are committed to some risky venture,which might easily be written down in a series of articles;a 'chanteur'waits upon you,and offers to withdraw the articles--for a consideration.'Chanteurs'are sent to men in office,who will bargain that their acts and not their private characters are to be attacked,or they are heedless of their characters,and anxious only to shield the woman they love.One of your acquaintance,that charming Master of Requests des Lupeaulx,is a kind of agent for affairs of this sort.The rascal has made a position for himself in the most marvelous way in the very centre of power;he is the middle-man of the press and the ambassador of the Ministers;he works upon a man's self-love;he bribes newspapers to pass over a loan in silence,or to make no comment on a contract which was never put up for public tender,and the jackals of Liberal bankers get a share out of it.That was a bit of 'chantage'that you did with Dauriat;he gave you a thousand crowns to let Nathan alone.In the eighteenth century,when journalism was still in its infancy,this kind of blackmail was levied by pamphleteers in the pay of favorites and great lords.The original inventor was Pietro Aretino,a great Italian.Kings went in fear of him,as stage-players go in fear of a newspaper to-day.""What did you do to the Matifat to make the thousand crowns?""I attacked Florine in half a dozen papers.Florine complained to Matifat.Matifat went to Braulard to find out what the attacks meant.
I did my 'chantage'for Finot's benefit,and Finot put Braulard on the wrong scent;Braulard told the man of drugs that YOU were demolishing Florine in Coralie's interest.Then Giroudeau went round to Matifat and told him (in confidence)that the whole business could be accommodated if he (Matifat)would consent to sell his sixth share in Finot's review for ten thousand francs.Finot was to give me a thousand crowns if the dodge succeeded.Well,Matifat was only too glad to get back ten thousand francs out of the thirty thousand invested in a risky speculation,as he thought,for Florine had been telling him for several days past that Finot's review was doing badly;and,instead of paying a dividend,something was said of calling up more capital.So Matifat was just about to close with the offer,when the manager of the Panorama-Dramatique comes to him with some accommodation bills that he wanted to negotiate before filing his schedule.To induce Matifat to take them of him,he let out a word of Finot's trick.Matifat,being a shrewd man of business,took the hint,held tight to his sixth,and is laughing in his sleeve at us.Finot and I are howling with despair.We have been so misguided as to attack a man who has no affection for his mistress,a heartless,soulless wretch.Unluckily,too,for us,Matifat's business is not amenable to the jurisdiction of the press,and he cannot be made to smart for it through his interests.A druggist is not like a hatter or a milliner,or a theatre or a work of art;he is above criticism;you can't run down his opium and dyewoods,nor cocoa beans,paint,and pepper.
