for self-gratification, but in the form of mental enjoyment such as
would gratify his burning desire for domination. A man such as this was
never intended to succeed in a provincial town. He vegetated there
for fifteen years, his eyes turned towards Paris, watching his
opportunities. On his return home he had entered his name on the rolls,
in order to be independent of his parents. After that he pleaded from
time to time, earning a bare livelihood, without appearing to rise above
average mediocrity. At Plassans his voice was considered thick, his
movements heavy. He generally wandered from the question at issue,
rambled, as the wiseacres expressed it. On one occasion particularly,
when he was pleading in a case for damages, he so forgot himself as to
stray into a political disquisition, to such a point that the presiding
judge interfered, whereupon he immediately sat down with a strange
smile. His client was condemned to pay a considerable sum of money,
a circumstance which did not, however, seem to cause Eugene the least
regret for his irrelevant digression. He appeared to regard his speeches
as mere exercises which would be of use to him later on. It was this
that puzzled and disheartened Felicite. She would have liked to see her
son dictating the law to the Civil Court of Plassans. At last she came
to entertain a very unfavourable opinion of her first-born. To her
mind this lazy fellow would never be the one to shed any lustre on the
family. Pierre, on the contrary, felt absolute confidence in him,
not that he had more intuition than his wife, but because external
appearances sufficed him, and he flattered himself by believing in
the genius of a son who was his living image. A month prior to the
Revolution of February, 1848, Eugene became restless; some special
inspiration made him anticipate the crisis. From that time forward he
seemed to feel out of his element at Plassans. He would wander about the
streets like a distressed soul. At last he formed a sudden resolution,
and left for Paris, with scarcely five hundred francs in his pocket.