登陆注册
5406500000085

第85章 IV(4)

gray with a pink border, revealed, by certain fuliginous stains, the unwholesome presence of smokers. Nothing ever more faithfully represented that prosaic precinct called by the newspapers an "editorial sanctum." Birotteau, fearing that he might be indiscreet, knocked sharply three times on the door opposite to that by which he entered.

"Come in!" cried Claparon, the reverberation of whose voice revealed the distance it had to traverse and the emptiness of the room,--in which Cesar heard the crackling of a good fire, though the owner was apparently not there.

The room was, in truth, Claparon's private office. Between the ostentatious reception-room of Francois Keller and the untidy abode of the counterfeit banker, there was all the difference that exists between Versailles and the wigwam of a Huron chief. Birotteau had witnessed the splendors of finance; he was now to see its fooleries.

Lying in bed, in a sort of oblong recess or den opening from the farther end of the office, and where the habits of a slovenly life had spoiled, dirtied, greased, torn, defaced, obliterated, and ruined furniture which had been elegant in its day, Claparon, at the entrance of Birotteau, wrapped his filthy dressing-gown around him, laid down his pipe, and drew together the curtains of the bed with a haste which made even the innocent perfumer suspect his morals.

"Sit down, monsieur," said the make-believe banker.

Claparon, without his wig, his head wrapped up in a bandanna handkerchief twisted awry, seemed all the more hideous to Birotteau because, when the dressing-gown gaped open, he saw an undershirt of knitted wool, once white, but now yellowed by wear indefinitely prolonged.

"Will you breakfast with me?" said Claparon, recollecting the perfumer's ball, and thinking to make him a return and also to put him off the scent by this invitation.

Cesar now perceived a round table, hastily cleared of its litter, which bore testimony to the presence of jovial company by a pate, oysters, white wine, and vulgar kidneys, /sautes au vin de champagne/, sodden in their own sauce. The light of a charcoal brazier gleamed on an /omelette aux truffes/.

Two covers and two napkins, soiled by the supper of the previous night, might have enlightened the purest innocence. Claparon, thinking himself very clever, pressed his invitation in spite of Cesar's refusal.

"I was to have had a guest, but that guest has disappointed me," said the crafty traveller, in a voice likely to reach a person buried under coverlets.

"Monsieur," said Birotteau, "I came solely on business, and I shall not detain you long."

"I'm used up," said Claparon, pointing to the desk and the tables piled with documents; "they don't leave me a poor miserable moment to myself! I don't receive people except on Saturdays. But as for you, my dear friend, I'll see you at any time. I haven't a moment to love or to loaf; I have lost even the inspiration of business; to catch its vim one must have the sloth of ease. Nobody ever sees me now on the boulevard doing nothing. Bah! I'm sick of business; I don't want to talk about business; I've got money enough, but I never can get enough happiness. My gracious! I want to travel,--to see Italy! Oh, that dear Italy! beautiful in spite of all her reverses! adorable land, where I

shall no doubt encounter some angel, complying yet majestic! I have always loved Italian women. Did you ever have an Italian woman yourself? No? Then come with me to Italy. We will see Venice, the abode of doges,--unfortunately fallen into those intelligent Austrian hands that know nothing of art! Bah! let us get rid of business, canals, loans, and peaceful governments. I'm a good fellow when I've got my pockets lined. Thunder! let's travel."

"One word, monsieur, and I will release you," said Birotteau. "You made over my notes to Monsieur Bidault."

"You mean Gigonnet, that good little Gigonnet, easy-going--"

"Yes," said Cesar; "but I wish,--and here I count upon your honor and delicacy,--"

Claparon bowed.

"--to renew those notes."

"Impossible!" snapped the banker. "I'm not alone in the matter. We have met in council,--regular Chamber; but we all agreed like bacon in a frying-pan. The devil! we deliberated. Those lands about the Madeleine don't amount to anything; we are operating elsewhere. Hey!

my dear sir, if we were not involved in the Champs Elysees and at the Bourse which they are going to finish, and in the quartier Saint-

Lazare and at Tivoli, we shouldn't be, as that fat Nucingen says, in /peaseness/ at all. What's the Madeleine to us?--a midge of a thing.

Pr-r-r! We don't play low, my good fellow," he said, tapping Birotteau on the stomach and catching him round the waist. "Come, let's have our breakfast, and talk," added Claparon, wishing to soften his refusal.

"Very good," said Birotteau. "So much the worse for the other guest,"

he thought, meaning to make Claparon drunk, and to find out who were his real associates in an affair which began to look suspicious to him.

"All right! Victoire!" called the banker.

This call brought a regular Leonarde, tricked out like a fish-woman.

"Tell the clerks that I can't see any one,--not even Nucingen, Keller, Gigonnet, and all the rest of them."

"No one has come but Monsieur Lempereur."

"He can receive the great people," said Claparon; "the small fry are not to get beyond the first room. They are to say I'm cogitating a great enterprise--in champagne."

To make an old commercial traveller drunk is an impossibility. Cesar mistook the elation of the man's vulgarity when he attempted to sound his mind.

"That infamous Roguin is still connected with you," he began; "don't you think you ought to write and tell him to assist an old friend whom he has compromised,--a man with whom he dined every Sunday, and whom he has known for twenty years?"

"Roguin? A fool! his share is ours now. Don't be worried, old fellow, all will go well. Pay up to the 15th, and after that we will see--I

同类推荐
  • 佛说放钵经

    佛说放钵经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 天地八阳神咒经

    天地八阳神咒经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 抱一函三秘诀

    抱一函三秘诀

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 童蒙止观

    童蒙止观

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 上清含象剑鉴图

    上清含象剑鉴图

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 后宫长梧传

    后宫长梧传

    小时,父亲让我代替长若进宫,我对此并没有多大想法。秋家总是要有一个人进宫的,不是我,就是长若,我比长若大,进宫也是自然。只是,当长大后,父亲以私访为由,引明棋去见长若时,我便知,在父亲心中,我与长若,还是不同的。青山有木,为梧非桐,雀啄其实,长栖,民呼长梧。明棋,那么多人,你选谁不好,为何偏偏是秋长若?
  • 一念成瘾:傅少的心尖宠妻

    一念成瘾:傅少的心尖宠妻

    简长晴知道傅念琛心里住着一个女人,一个他爱了八年的女人。可是简长晴不知道,傅念琛对她说的那句“你好,傅太太”,不是孽缘的开始,而是八年相思的终结。--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 教练型上司:部属培育与辅导的绝招

    教练型上司:部属培育与辅导的绝招

    《影响时空管理丛书》由影响力训练集团组织十几位专家、几十位学者、上百位培训界精英历经三年时间精心创作,内容注重实战,以解决企业管理实际问题为导向;论述深入浅出,通俗易懂;工具多、方法多、案例多,且经过多轮培训课程使用并经过多次修订,受到各层次管理者的欢迎和好评。本书从剖析传统管理者与教练型管理者的区别入手,深入浅出地讲解了成为教练型上司的方法、技巧,包括教练型上司的3种新型角色、教练型上司必备的4种能力、5大教练要点、6步教练技巧、4大管理法宝。让管理者学之能用,用之有效。
  • 教你学歇后语(下)

    教你学歇后语(下)

    语言文字的简称就是语文。语文是人文社会科学的一门重要学科,是人们相互交流思想的工具。它既是语言文字规范的实用工具,又是文化艺术,同时也是用来积累和开拓精神财富的一门学问。
  • 异能者收集手册

    异能者收集手册

    属于族群中大部分的、由量变逐渐累积而成的质变,人们称之为进化。属于极少个别人的、由亿万分之一的偶然而变异得来的优化基因,人们称之为……——异能
  • 星际之全能进化

    星际之全能进化

    胸无大志的机动步兵秦浩无意中击杀了出来历练的虫族皇子,意外获得虫族的力量,从此开启了他的崛起之路。长官:秦浩,你为什么而战?秦浩:我为生存而战!敌人:扯淡,被杀的都是我们好吗?秦浩:我要多赚钱!土豪:要点脸吧,你这军火贩子穷的只剩下钱了吧?秦浩:那我为了荣誉?总统:联邦所有的勋章你都拿遍了,要不然我这把椅子你来坐?秦浩:那我为了爱情而战还不行吗?众人:你他妈还想祸害妹子!?书友群:895437683
  • 邪龙都市

    邪龙都市

    他是一代邪帝,但却做了杀手,因为一场意外而重回都市,为了复活自己心底的女人,同时又为了解开心中的诸多疑惑,他最终选择走上了逆天修魔之路,医道圣手、铁血柔情、身伴黑龙、脚踏苍穹。传承……武学……医术……阵法……无所不精、无所不通!用着他自己的独特方式守护着心中的净土,华夏!
  • 大方等大集经贤护分卷第一

    大方等大集经贤护分卷第一

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 镜换杯

    镜换杯

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 皇后惊滟

    皇后惊滟

    步惊艳成了京都人的笑柄。本来准备娶她的晋王爷娶了她姐姐,而她为了遮羞,只得嫁给晋王的弟弟秦王——一个患了绝症活不了两年的傻子。谁也不愿意嫁给一个短命的傻子,但事实就是事实,没有人可以更改。步惊艳放平心态,淡然处世,只想过上自己的逍遥生活。可是,这些自以为是的男男女女总是对她逼迫逼迫又逼迫,她是否会坐以待毙?当她以为一切都已在掌握中时,计划好的事情却出了意外,这个别人眼中的傻子很古怪。他紧紧抓住她的手,睁大无邪的眼睛大叫:“不放,说不放就不放,你让我一个人逃走,然后再和他死在一起,我不准——”他一次次坏了她好事,又一次次从生死边缘将她拉回,他究竟是什么人?复杂的晋王爷,多情的离越太子,邪魅而又霸道的雪域王,忧郁的夏皇,为了子民的生存而奋斗的天临国人,一群为了男人斗得你死我活的女人。当有人痛苦倒下去的同时,也有人傲然站起……