"How if I should come to behave as he does?"he thought."Is a man obliged to part with his self-respect?--Pray put on your hat again,Nathan;you have written a great book,and the critic has only written a review of it."These thoughts set the blood tingling in his veins.Scarce a minute passed but some young author,poverty-stricken and shy,came in,asked to speak with Dauriat,looked round the crowded shop despairingly,and went out saying,"I will come back again."Two or three politicians were chatting over the convocation of the Chambers and public business with a group of well-known public men.The weekly newspaper for which Dauriat was in treaty was licensed to treat of matters political,and the number of newspapers suffered to exist was growing smaller and smaller,till a paper was a piece of property as much in demand as a theatre.One of the largest shareholders in the Constitutionnel was standing in the midst of the knot of political celebrities.Lousteau performed the part of cicerone to admiration;with every sentence he uttered Dauriat rose higher in Lucien's opinion.Politics and literature seemed to converge in Dauriat's shop.He had seen a great poet prostituting his muse to journalism,humiliating Art,as woman was humiliated and prostituted in those shameless galleries without,and the provincial took a terrible lesson to heart.Money!That was the key to every enigma.Lucien realized the fact that he was unknown and alone,and that the fragile clue of an uncertain friendship was his sole guide to success and fortune.He blamed the kind and loyal little circle for painting the world for him in false colors,for preventing him from plunging into the arena,pen in hand."I should be a Blondet at this moment!"he exclaimed within himself.
Only a little while ago they had sat looking out over Paris from the Gardens of the Luxembourg,and Lousteau had uttered the cry of a wounded eagle;then Lousteau had been a great man in Lucien's eyes,and now he had shrunk to scarce visible proportions.The really important man for him at this moment was the fashionable bookseller,by whom all these men lived;and the poet,manu in hand,felt a nervous tremor that was almost like fear.He noticed a group of busts mounted on wooden pedestals,painted to resemble marble;Byron stood there,and Goethe and M.de Canalis.Dauriat was hoping to publish a volume by the last-named poet,who might see,on his entrance into the shop,the estimation in which he was held by the trade.Unconsciously Lucien's own self-esteem began to shrink,and his courage ebbed.He began to see how large a part this Dauriat would play in his destinies,and waited impatiently for him to appear.
"Well,children,"said a voice,and a short,stout man appeared,with a puffy face that suggested a Roman pro-consul's visage,mellowed by an air of good-nature which deceived superficial observers."Well,children,here am I,the proprietor of the only weekly paper in the market,a paper with two thousand subscribers!""Old joker!The registered number is seven hundred,and that is over the mark,"said Blondet.
"Twelve thousand,on my sacred word of honor--I said two thousand for the benefit of the printers and paper-dealers yonder,"he added,lowering his voice,then raising it again."I thought you had more tact,my boy,"he added.
"Are you going to take any partners?"inquired Finot.
"That depends,"said Dauriat."Will you take a third at forty thousand francs?""It's a bargain,if you will take Emile Blondet here on the staff,and Claude Vignon,Scribe,Theodore Leclercq,Felicien Vernou,Jay,Jouy,Lousteau,and----""And why not Lucien de Rubempre?"the provincial poet put in boldly.
"----and Nathan,"concluded Finot.
"Why not the people out there in the street?"asked Dauriat,scowling at the author of the Marguerites.--"To whom have I the honor of speaking?"he added,with an insolent glance.
"One moment,Dauriat,"said Lousteau."I have brought this gentleman to you.Listen to me,while Finot is thinking over your proposals."Lucien watched this Dauriat,who addressed Finot with the familiar tu,which even Finot did not permit himself to use in reply;who called the redoubtable Blondet "my boy,"and extended a hand royally to Nathan with a friendly nod.The provincial poet felt his shirt wet with perspiration when the formidable sultan looked indifferent and ill pleased.
"Another piece of business,my boy!"exclaimed Dauriat."Why,I have eleven hundred manus on hand,as you know!Yes,gentlemen,Ihave eleven hundred manus submitted to me at this moment;ask Gabusson.I shall soon be obliged to start a department to keep account of the stock of manus,and a special office for reading them,and a committee to vote on their merits,with numbered counters for those who attend,and a permanent secretary to draw up the minutes for me.It will be a kind of local branch of the Academie,and the Academicians will be better paid in the Wooden Galleries than at the Institut.""'Tis an idea,"said Blondet.
