第87章

"Good,"said Lousteau."I shall let him see your article,and tell him that I softened it down;you will find it serves you better than if it had appeared in print.Go and ask him for tickets to-morrow,and he will sign forty blank orders every month.I know a man who can get rid of them for you;I will introduce you to him,and he will buy them all up at half-price.There is a trade done in theatre tickets,just as Barbet trades in reviewers'copies.This is another Barbet,the leader of the claque.He lives near by;come and see him,there is time enough.""But,my dear fellow,it is a scandalous thing that Finot should levy blackmail in matters intellectual.Sooner or later----""Really!"cried Lousteau,"where do you come from?For what do you take Finot?Beneath his pretence of good-nature,his ignorance and stupidity,and those Turcaret's airs of his,there is all the cunning of his father the hatter.Did you notice an old soldier of the Empire in the den at the office?That is Finot's uncle.The uncle is not only one of the right sort,he has the luck to be taken for a fool;and he takes all that kind of business upon his shoulders.An ambitious man in Paris is well off indeed if he has a willing scapegoat at hand.In public life,as in journalism,there are hosts of emergencies in which the chiefs cannot afford to appear.If Finot should enter on a political career,his uncle would be his secretary,and receive all the contributions levied in his department on big affairs.Anybody would take Giroudeau for a fool at first sight,but he has just enough shrewdness to be an inscrutable old file.He is on picket duty;he sees that we are not pestered with hubbub,beginners wanting a job,or advertisements.No other paper has his equal,I think.""He plays his part well,"said Lucien;"I saw him at work."Etienne and Lucien reached a handsome house in the Rue du Faubourg-du-Temple.

"Is M.Braulard in?"Etienne asked of the porter.

"MONSIEUR?"said Lucien."Then,is the leader of the claque 'Monsieur'?""My dear boy,Braulard has twenty thousand francs of income.All the dramatic authors of the Boulevards are in his clutches,and have a standing account with him as if he were a banker.Orders and complimentary tickets are sold here.Braulard knows where to get rid of such merchandise.Now for a turn at statistics,a useful science enough in its way.At the rate of fifty complimentary tickets every evening for each theatre,you have two hundred and fifty tickets daily.Suppose,taking one with another,that they are worth a couple of francs apiece,Braulard pays a hundred and twenty-five francs daily for them,and takes his chance of making cent per cent.In this way authors'tickets alone bring him in about four thousand francs every month,or forty-eight thousand francs per annum.Allow twenty thousand francs for loss,for he cannot always place all his tickets----""Why not?"

"Oh!the people who pay at the door go in with the holders of complimentary tickets for unreserved seats,and the theatre reserves the right of admitting those who pay.There are fine warm evenings to be reckoned with besides,and poor plays.Braulard makes,perhaps,thirty thousand francs every year in this way,and he has his claqueurs besides,another industry.Florine and Coralie pay tribute to him;if they did not,there would be no applause when they come on or go off."Lousteau gave this explanation in a low voice as they went up the stair.

"Paris is a queer place,"said Lucien;it seemed to him that he saw self-interest squatting in every corner.

A smart maid-servant opened the door.At the sight of Etienne Lousteau,the dealer in orders and tickets rose from a sturdy chair before a large cylinder desk,and Lucien beheld the leader of the claque,Braulard himself,dressed in a gray molleton jacket,footed trousers,and red slippers;for all the world like a doctor or a solicitor.He was a typical self-made man,Lucien thought--a vulgar-looking face with a pair of exceedingly cunning gray eyes,hands made for hired applause,a complexion over which hard living had passed like rain over a roof,grizzled hair,and a somewhat husky voice.

"You have come from Mlle.Florine,no doubt,sir,and this gentleman for Mlle.Coralie,"said Braulard;"I know you very well by sight.

Don't trouble yourself,sir,"he continued,addressing Lucien;"I am buying the Gymnase connection,I will look after your lady,and I will give her notice of any tricks they may try to play on her.""That is not an offer to be refused,my dear Braulard,but we have come about the press orders for the Boulevard theatres--I as editor,and this gentleman as dramatic critic.""Oh!--ah,yes!Finot has sold his paper.I heard about it.He is getting on,is Finot.I have asked him to dine with me at the end of the week;if you will do me the honor and pleasure of coming,you may bring your ladies,and there will be a grand jollification.Adele Dupuis is coming,and Ducange,and Frederic du Petit-Mere,and Mlle.

Millot,my mistress.We shall have good fun and better liquor.""Ducange must be in difficulties.He has lost his lawsuit.""I have lent him ten thousand francs;if Calas succeeds,it will repay the loan,so I have been organizing a success.Ducange is a clever man;he has brains----"Lucien fancied that he must be dreaming when he heard a claqueur appraising a writer's value.

"Coralie has improved,"continued Braulard,with the air of a competent critic."If she is a good girl,I will take her part,for they have got up a cabal against her at the Gymnase.This is how Imean to do it.I will have a few well-dressed men in the balconies to smile and make a little murmur,and the applause will follow.That is a dodge which makes a position for an actress.I have a liking for Coralie,and you ought to be satisfied,for she has feeling.Aha!Ican hiss any one on the stage if I like.""But let us settle this business about the tickets,"put in Lousteau.