1 Casti refers to a licentious poet of eighteenth-century Italy. P. 141, L. 17. François I: King Francis I was the great model of the Renaissance prince for the French; the verses quoted would not have been out of character. Francis's amorous activities inspired Victor Hugo's play Le Roi s'amuse (The King Takes His Pleasure), which in turn inspired Verdi's opera Rigoletto.
Chapter Twenty-Three: A Civil Servant's Sorrows
He waited impatiently, standing behind the bill poster. Taking up his big brush, the man spread paste over the back of the poster. It was scarcely fastened to the wall when, avidly curious, Julien found himself reading a detailed description of the huge old house that Monsieur de Rênal and his wife had been discussing, and the announcement of a public auction. Bidding for the lease would take place in the town hall the very next day, at two o'clock sharp; it would end when the last of three candles had burned itself out. Julien was quite disappointed. The interval struck him as exceedingly short: How would all the potential bidders be notified in time? But the remainder of the poster, which was dated two weeks earlier, told him nothing more. He read it three times, from start to finish, in three different locations. He went to look at the house. The porter, not seeing him, was quietly saying, to a neighbor: "Bah! Bah! It's a waste of time. Father Maslon promised him he'd get it for three hundred francs, and since the mayor wouldn't go along, the vicar-general, Father de Frilair, sent it up to the bishop." Seeing Julien apparently upset the two friends, who never uttered another word. Julien would not have missed the auction. The dimly lit room was crowded, but everyone was inspecting everyone else in the oddest way. Then all eyes fixed on a tin plate, on which Julien noticed three candles burning. The bailiff shouted: "Three hundred francs, gentlemen!" "Three hundred francs! Now that's going too far!" said a man, speaking softly to his neighbor. Julien stood almost between them. "The lease is worth more than eight hundred. I'm going to cover that bid." "You're just spitting in the wind. What good will it do to get their backs up, Father Maslon, Monsieur Valenod, the bishop, the bishop's horrible vicar, Father Frilair, and all the others in that gang?" "Three hundred and twenty francs," the other man called out. "Dumb fool!" his neighbor responded. "And there's one of the mayor's spies," he added, motioning to Julien. Julien quickly turned around to pay them back for this remark, but the two citizens of Franche-Comté paid him not the slightest attention. Their steady coolness revived his. Just then, the last bit of candle sputtered out, and the bailiff's dull voice announced that the house had been rented, for nine years, to Monsieur de Saint-Giraud, department chief in ——— district, and at three hundred and thirty francs. The mayor having left the room, comments started up. "There's thirty francs that Grogeot's arrogance is costing the city," someone said. "But Monsieur de Saint-Giraud," said someone else, "will get back at Grogeot; he'll make him feel it." "Disgraceful!" said a fat man to Julien's left. "I'd pay eight hundred francs for that house, eight hundred, and use it in my business—and it would be a good bargain." "Bah!" answered a young industrialist, a liberal. "Monsieur de Saint-Giraud belongs to the Congregation of the Holy Virgin, right? His four children have scholarships, don't they? Oh, the poor man! The people of Verrières have to give him a bonus, five hundred francs every month. That's all there is to it." "I hear the mayor couldn't stop it!" observed a third man. "Because he's an ultra,2 a real reactionary, all right, but he doesn't steal."