"Messieurs," said the notary, "if there is a house in Arcis in which
no voice should be raised against the influence of the Comte de
Gondreville, it is surely the one we are now in. The worthy Colonel
Giguet is the only person in it who has not sought the benefits of the
senatorial power; he, at least, has never asked anything of the Comte
de Gondreville, who took his name off the list of exiles in 1815 and
caused him to receive the pension which the colonel now enjoys without
lifting a finger to obtain it."

A murmur, flattering to the old soldier, greeted this observation.

"But," continued the orator, "the Marions are covered with the count's
benefits. Without that influence, the late Colonel Giguet would not
have commanded the gendarmerie of the Aube. The late Monsieur Marion
would not have been chief-justice of the Imperial court without the
protection of the count, to whom I myself have every reason to be
thankful. You will therefore think it natural that I should be his
advocate within these walls. There are, indeed, few persons in this
arrondissement who have not received benefits from that family."

[Murmurs.]

"A candidate puts himself in the stocks," continued Achille Pigoult,
warming up. "I have the right to scrutinize his life before I invest
him with my powers. I do not desire ingratitude in the delegate I may
help to send to the Chamber, for ingratitude is like misfortune--one
ingratitude leads to others. We have been, he tells us, the
stepping-stone of the Kellers; well, from what I have heard here, I am
afraid we may become the stepping-stone of the Giguets. We live in a
practical age, do we not? Well, then, let us examine into what will be