y worth either Monsieur Malin, otherwise called
Comte de Gondreville, the Keller Bros., the Cinq-Cygnes, or even, the
King of the French.

The numerous partisans of old Gondreville, the king of the department
of the Aube, were therefore awaiting some fresh proof of his ability,
already so thoroughly tested, to circumvent this rising revolt. In order
not to compromise the influence of his family in the arrondissement of
Arcis, that old statesman would doubtless propose for candidate some
young man who could be induced to accept an official function and then
yield his place to Charles Keller,--a parliamentary arrangement which
renders the elect of the people subject to re-election.

When Simon Giguet sounded the old notary Grevin, the faithful friend of
the Comte de Gondreville, on the subject of the elections, the old
man replied that, while he did not know the intentions of the Comte de
Gondreville, he should himself vote for Charles Keller and employ his
influence for that election.

As soon as this answer of old Grevin had circulated through Arcis, a
reaction against him set in. Although for thirty years this provincial
Aristides possessed the confidence of the whole town,--having been
mayor of Arcis from 1804 to 1814 and again during the Hundred Days,--and
although the Opposition had accepted him as their leader until the
triumph of 1830, at which period he refused the honors of the mayoralty
on the ground of his great age, and finally, although the town, in order
to manifest its affection for him, elected his son-in-law, Monsieur
Beauvisage, mayor in his stead, it now revolted against him and some
young striplings went so far as to talk of his dotage. The partisans of
Simon Giguet then turned to Phileas Beauvisage, the mayor, and won him
over the more easily to their side because, without having quarrelled
with his father-in-law, he assumed an independence of him which had
ended in coldness,--an independence that the sly old notary allowed him
to maintain, seeing in it an excellent means of action on the town of
Arcis.

The mayor, questioned the evening before in the open street, declared
positively that he should cast his vote for the first-comer on the list
of eligibles rather than give it to Charles Keller, for whom, however,
he had a high esteem.

"Arcis shall be no longer a rotten borough!" he said, "or I'll emigrate
to Paris."

Flatter the passions of the moment and you will always be a hero, even
at A