The Firm of Nucingen by Honoré de Balzac
page 5 of 101 (04%)
page 5 of 101 (04%)
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After some target practice at the outer circle of their acquaintances, they turned their ill-natured shafts at their intimate friends. With a sign I explained my wish to stay and listen as soon as Bixiou took up his parable, as will shortly be seen. And so we listened to one of those terrific improvisations which won that artist such a name among a certain set of seared and jaded spirits; and often interrupted and resumed though it was, memory serves me as a reporter of it. The opinions expressed and the form of expression lie alike outside the conditions of literature. It was, more properly speaking, a medley of sinister revelations that paint our age, to which indeed no other kind of story should be told; and, besides, I throw all the responsibility upon the principal speaker. The pantomime and the gestures that accompanied Bixiou's changes of voice, as he acted the parts of the various persons, must have been perfect, judging by the applause and admiring comments that broke from his audience of three. "Then did Rastignac refuse?" asked Blondet, apparently addressing Finot. "Point-blank." "But did you threaten him with the newspapers?" asked Bixiou. "He began to laugh," returned Finot. "Rastignac is the late lamented de Marsay's direct heir; he will make his way politically as well as socially," commented Blondet. "But how did he make his money?" asked Couture. "In 1819 both he and |
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