,
besides our coal and iron mines, we possess mines of copper, lead, and,
possibly, silver?"

"If you will take the trouble to consult certain specialists," replied
Sallenauve, "you will find that neither the boasted strata of Bohemia
and Saxony nor even those of Russia and Hungary can be compared to those
hidden in the Pyrenees, in the Alps from Briancon to the Isere, in
the Cevennes on the Lozere side, in the Puy-de-Dome, Bretagne, and the
Vosges. In the Vosges, more especially about the town of Saint-Die, I
can point out to you a single vein of the mineral of silver which
lies to the depth of fifty to eighty metres with a length of thirteen
kilometres."

"But, monsieur, why has such untold metallurgical wealth never been
worked?"

"It has been, in former days," replied Sallenauve, "especially during
the Roman occupation of Gaul. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the
work was abandoned; but the lords of the soil and the clergy renewed it
in the middle ages; after that, during the struggle of feudality against
the royal power and the long civil wars which devastated France, the
work was again suspended, and has never since been taken up."

"Are you sure of what you say?"

"Ancient authors, Strabo and others, all mention these mines, and the
tradition of their existence still lingers in the regions where they are
situated; decrees of emperors and the ordinances of certain of our kings
bear testimony to the value of their products; in certain places more
material proof may be found in excavations of considerable depth and
length, in galleries and halls cut in the solid rock,--in short, in the
many traces still existing of those vast works which have immortalized
Roman industry. To this must be added that the modern study of
geological science has confirmed and developed these irrefutable
indications."

The imagination of Monsieur Octave de Camps, hitherto limited to the
development of a single iron-mine, took fire, and he was about to
ask his instructor to give him his ideas on the manner of awakening a
practical interest in the matter, when Lucas, throwing wide open the
double doors of the salon, announced in his loudest and most pompous
voice,--

"Monsieur the minister of Public Works."

The effect produced on the elders of the assembly was electric.

"I want to see what sort of figure that little Rastignac cuts as a
statesman," said Monsieur de Camps, rising from his seat; but in his
heart he was thinki