al, to keep our Baron and his agents quiet.
You must go to see Madame de Serizy, and make yourself very agreeable to
her. Tell her, in the course of conversation, that to oblige Rastignac,
who has long been sick of Madame de Nucingen, you have consented to play
fence for him to conceal a mistress. Monsieur de Nucingen, desperately
in love with this woman Rastignac keeps hidden--that will make her
laugh--has taken it into his head to set the police to keep an eye on
you--on you, who are innocent of all his tricks, and whose interest
with the Grandlieus may be seriously compromised. Then you must beg the
Countess to secure her husband's support, for he is a Minister of State,
to carry you to the Prefecture of Police.

"When you have got there, face to face with the Prefet, make your
complaint, but as a man of political consequence, who will sooner or
later be one of the motor powers of the huge machine of government. You
will speak of the police as a statesman should, admiring everything, the
Prefet included. The very best machines make oil-stains or splutter. Do
not be angry till the right moment. You have no sort of grudge against
Monsieur le Prefet, but persuade him to keep a sharp lookout on his
people, and pity him for having to blow them up. The quieter and more
gentlemanly you are, the more terrible will the Prefet be to his men.
Then we shall be left in peace, and we may send for Esther back, for she
must be belling like the does in the forest."

The Prefet at that time was a retired magistrate. Retired magistrates
make far too young Prefets. Partisans of the right, riding the high
horse on points of law, they are not light-handed in arbitary action
such as critical circumstances often require; cases in which the Prefet
should be as prompt as a fireman called to a conflagration. So, face
to face with the Vice-President of the Council of State, the Prefet
confessed to more faults than the police really has, deplored its
abuses, and presently was able to recollect the visit paid to him by
the Baron de Nucingen and his inquiries as to Peyrade. The Prefet,
while promising to check the rash zeal of his agents, thanked Lucien
for having come straight to him, promised secrecy, and affected to
understand the intrigue.

A few fine speeches about personal liberty and the sacredness of home
life were bandied between the Prefet and the Minister; Monsieur de
Serizy observing in conclusion that though the high interests of th