And, then,
pray Heaven that the Ministry dismisses you for doing your office
impartially, in spite of the powers that be; for if they do, your
fortune is made! You will have a charming wife and thirty thousand
francs a year with her, to say nothing of four millions expectations
in ten years' time."
In two evenings Sauvager was talked over. Both he and the President
kept the affair a secret from old Blondet, from Michu, and from the
second member of the staff of prosecuting counsel. Feeling sure of
Blondet's impartiality on a question of fact, the President made
certain of a majority without counting Camusot. And now Camusot's
unexpected defection had thrown everything out. What the President
wanted was a committal for trial before the public prosecutor got
warning. How if Camusot or the second counsel for the prosecution
should send word to Paris?
And here some portion of Camusot's private history may perhaps explain
how it came to pass that Chesnel took it for granted that the
examining magistrate would be on the d'Esgrignons' side, and how he
had the boldness to tamper in the open street with that representative
of justice.
Camusot's father, a well-known silk mercer in the Rue des Bourdonnais,
was ambitious for the only son of his first marriage, and brought him
up to the law.
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