a Cardinal Mazarin; it was in the hands of a species of Cardinal
de Fleury, who, timid for over five years, turned bold for one day,
injudiciously bold. Later on, the "Doctrine" did more, with impunity,
at Saint-Merri, than Charles X. pretended to do in July, 1830. If the
section on the censorship so foolishly introduced into the new charter
had been omitted, journalism also would have had its Saint-Merri. The
younger Branch could have legally carried out Charles X.'s plan.

"Remain where you are, head of a bureau under Baudoyer," went on des
Lupeaulx. "Have the nerve to do this; make yourself a true politician;
put ideas and generous impulses aside; attend only to your functions;
don't say a word to your new director; don't help him with a suggestion;
and do nothing yourself without his order. In three months Baudoyer
will be out of the ministry, either dismissed, or stranded on some other
administrative shore. They may attach him to the king's household.
Twice in my life I have been set aside as you are, and overwhelmed by an
avalanche of folly; I have quietly waited and let it pass."

"Yes," said Rabourdin, "but you were not calumniated; your honor was not
assailed, compromised--"

"Ha, ha, ha!" cried des Lupeaulx, interrupting him with a burst of
Homeric laughter. "Why, that's the daily bread of every remarkable man
in this glorious kingdom of France! And there are but two ways to meet
such calumny,--either yield to it, pack up, and go plant cabbages in the
country; or else rise above it, march on, fearless, and don't turn your
head."

"For me, there is but one way of untying the noose which treachery and
the work of spies have fastened round my throat," replied Rabourdin.
"I must explain the matter at once to his Excellency, and if you are
as sincerely attached to me as you say you are, you will put me face to
face with him to-morrow."

"You mean that you wish to explain to him your plan for the reform of
the service?"

Rabourdin bowed.

"Well, then, trust the papers with me,--your memoranda, all the
documents. I promise you that he shall sit up all night and examine
them."

"Let us go to him, then!" cried Rabourdin, eagerly; "six years'
toil certainly deserves two or three hours attention from the king's
minister, who will be forced to recognize, if he does not applaud, such
perseverance."

Compelled by Rabourdin's tenacity to take a straightforward path,
without ambush or angle where his treachery cou