第86章

The youthful Duke meanwhile saw that Lucien was deep in thought,and made a pretty good guess at the matter of his meditations.He himself had opened out wide horizons of public life before an ambitious poet,with a vacillating will,it is true,but not without aspirations;and the journalists had already shown the neophyte,from a pinnacle of the temple,all the kingdoms of the world of letters and its riches.

Lucien himself had no suspicion of a little plot that was being woven,nor did he imagine that M.de Rhetore had a hand in it.M.de Rhetore had spoken of Lucien's cleverness,and Mme.d'Espard's set had taken alarm.Mme.de Bargeton had commissioned the Duke to sound Lucien,and with that object in view,the noble youth had come to the Ambigu-Comique.

Do not believe in stories of elaborate treachery.Neither the great world nor the world of journalists laid any deep schemes;definite plans are not made by either;their Machiavelism lives from hand to mouth,so to speak,and consists,for the most part,in being always on the spot,always on the alert to turn everything to account,always on the watch for the moment when a man's ruling passion shall deliver him into the hands of his enemies.The young Duke had seen through Lucien at Florine's supper-party;he had just touched his vain susceptibilities;and now he was trying his first efforts in diplomacy upon the living subject.

Lucien hurried to the Rue Saint-Fiacre after the play to write his article.It was a piece of savage and bitter criticism,written in pure wantonness;he was amusing himself by trying his power.The melodrama,as a matter of fact,was a better piece than the Alcalde;but Lucien wished to see whether he could damn a good play and send everybody to see a bad one,as his associates had said.

He unfolded the sheet at breakfast next morning,telling Coralie as he did so that he had cut up the Ambigu-Comique;and not a little astonished was he to find below his paper on Mme.de Bargeton and Chatelet a notice of the Ambigu,so mellowed and softened in the course of the night,that although the witty analysis was still preserved,the judgment was favorable.The article was more likely to fill the house than to empty it.No words can describe his wrath.He determined to have a word or two with Lousteau.He had already begun to think himself an indespensable man,and he vowed that he would not submit to be tyrannized over and treated like a fool.To establish his power beyond cavil,he wrote the article for Dauriat's review,summing up and weighing all the various opinions concerning Nathan's book;and while he was in the humor,he hit off another of his short sketches for Lousteau's newspaper.Inexperienced journalists,in the first effervescence of youth,make a labor of love of ephemeral work,and lavish their best thought unthriftily thereon.

The manager of the Panorama-Dramatique gave a first performance of a vaudeville that night,so that Florine and Coralie might be free for the evening.There were to be cards before supper.Lousteau came for the short notice of the vaudeville;it had been written beforehand after the general rehearsal,for Etienne wished to have the paper off his mind.Lucien read over one of the charming sketches of Parisian whimsicalities which made the fortune of the paper,and Lousteau kissed him on both eyelids,and called him the providence of journalism.

"Then why do you amuse yourself by turning my article inside out?"asked Lucien.He had written his brilliant sketch simply and solely to give emphasis to his grievance.

"I?"exclaimed Lousteau.

"Well,who else can have altered my article?""You do not know all the ins and outs yet,dear fellow.The Ambigu pays for thirty copies,and only takes nine for the manager and box office-keeper and their mistresses,and for the three lessees of the theatre.Every one of the Boulevard theatres pays eight hundred francs in this way to the paper;and there is quite as much again in boxes and orders for Finot,to say nothing of the contributions of the company.And if the minor theatres do this,you may imagine what the big ones do!Now you understand?We are bound to show a good deal of indulgence.""I understand this,that I am not at liberty to write as I think----""Eh!what does that matter,so long as you turn an honest penny?"cried Lousteau."Besides,my boy,what grudge had you against the theatre?You must have had some reason for it,or you would not have cut up the play as you did.If you slash for the sake of slashing,the paper will get into trouble,and when there is good reason for hitting hard it will not tell.Did the manager leave you out in the cold?""He had not kept a place for me."