Conscience | Page 7

that discussion is forbidden there."
"To deny is not to discuss."
"You say that as if you were angry with me."
"Not at all. I am sorry that you have wounded Brigard--nothing more."
"That is too much, because I have a sincere esteem, a real friendship for
you, if you will permit me to say so."
But Glady, apparently, did not desire the conversation to take this turn.
"I think this is an empty cab," he said, as a fiacre approached them.
"No," replied Saniel, "I see the light of a cigar through the
windowpane."
Glady made a slight gesture of impatience that was not lost upon Saniel,
who was expecting some such demonstration.
Rich, and frequenting the society of poor men, Glady lived in dread of
borrowers. It was enough for any man to appear to wish to talk to him
privately to make him believe that he was going to ask for fifty louis or
twenty francs; so often was this the case that every friend or comrade

was an enemy against whom he must defend his purse. And so he lay in
wait as if expecting some one to spring upon him, his eyes open, his
ears listening, and his hands in his pockets. This explains his attitude
toward Saniel, in whom he scented a demand for money, and was the
reason for his attempt to escape by taking a cab. But luck was against
him, and he tried to decline the unspoken request in another way.
"Do not be surprised," he said, with the volubility with which a man
speaks when he does not wish to give his companion a chance to say a
word, "that I was pained to see Brigard take seriously an argument that
evidently was not directed against him."
"Neither against him nor against his ideas."
"I know that; you do not need to defend yourself. But I have so much
friendship, so much esteem and respect for Brigard that everything that
touches him affects me. And how could it be otherwise when one
knows his value, and what a man he is? This life of mediocrity that he
lives, in order to be free, is it not admirable? What a beautiful
example!"
"Not every one can follow it."
"You think that one cannot be contented with ten francs a day?"
"I mean that not every one has the chance to make ten francs a day."
The vague fears of Glady became definite at these words. They had
walked down the Rue Ferou and reached the Place St. Sulpice.
"I think that at last I am going to find a cab," he said, precipitately.
But this hope was not realized; there was not a single cab at the station,
and he was forced to submit to the assault from Saniel.
And Saniel began:
"You are compelled to walk with me, and, frankly, I rejoice, because I
wish to talk to you of a serious affair--on which depends my future."

"This is a poor place for serious talk."
"I do not find it so."
"We would better appoint some other time."
"Why should we, since chance has thrown us together here?"
Glady resigned himself to the inevitable, and was as polite as he could
be in the circumstances.
"I await your pleasure," he said in a gracious tone, that was a contrast
to his former one.
Saniel, who was in such a hurry a few moments before, now silently
walked by Glady, whose eyes were on the shining asphalt pavement.
At last he spoke.
"I have told you that my future depends on the affair concerning which
I wish to speak to you. I can tell you all in a few words: If I am not able
to procure three thousand francs within two days, I shall be obliged to
leave Paris, to give up my studies and my work here, and go and bury
myself in my native town and become a plain country doctor."
Glady did not flinch; if he had not foreseen the amount he expected the
demand, and he continued gazing at his feet.
"You know," continued Saniel, "that I am the son of peasants; my
father was marshal in a poor village of Auvergne. At school I gave
proof of a certain aptitude for work above my comrades, and our cure
conceived an affection for me and taught me all he knew. Then he
made me enter a small seminary. But I had neither the docile mind nor
the submissive character that was necessary for this education, and after
several years of pranks and punishments, although I was not expelled, I
was given to understand that my departure would be hailed with delight.
I then became usher in a small school, but without salary, taking board
and lodging as payment.