e tone of a man who comes to the
climax of a conversation, "I wish I had power to realize a wish--"

"And that is?"

"To see you grappling with that ability which you call meddlesome."

"Well, you know, Monsieur le ministre, that we all spend three fourths
of life in wishing for the impossible."

"Why impossible? Would you be the first man of the Opposition to be seen
at the Tuileries? An invitation to dinner given publicly, openly, which
would, by bringing you into contact with one whom you misjudge at a
distance--"

"I should have the honor to refuse."

And he emphasized the words _have the honor_ in a way to show the
meaning he attached to them.

"You are all alike, you men of the Opposition!" cried the minister;
"you won't let yourselves be enlightened when the opportunity presents
itself; or, to put it better, you--"

"Do you call the rays of those gigantic red bottles in a chemist's shop
_light_, when they flash into your eyes as you pass them after dark?
Don't they, on the contrary, seem to blind you?"

"It is not our rays that frighten you," said Rastignac; "it is the dark
lantern of your party watchmen on their rounds."

"There may be some truth in what you say; a party and the man who
undertakes to represent it are in some degree a married couple, who in
order to live peaceably together must be mutually courteous, frank, and
faithful in heart as well as in principle."

"Well, try to be moderate. Your dream is far more impossible to realize
than mine; the day will come when you will have more to say about the
courtesy of your chaste better half."

"If there is an evil for which I ought to be prepared, it is that."

"Do you think so? With the lofty and generous sentiments so apparent in
your nature, shall you remain impassive under political attack,--under
calumny, for instance?"

"You yourself, Monsieur le ministre, have not escaped its venom; but it
did not, I think, deter you from your course."

"But," said Rastignac, lowering his voice, "suppose I were to tell you
that I have already sternly refused to listen to a proposal to search
into your private life on a certain side which, being more in the shade
than the rest, seems to offer your enemies a chance to entrap you."

"I do not thank you for the honor you have done yourself in rejecting
with contempt the proposals of men who can be neither of my party nor of
yours; they belong to the party of base appetites and selfish passions.
But, s