Parisians in the Country | Page 7

Matilda, who pesters you with comparisons and her real India
shawls imported by the suite of the Russian ambassador, and her silver
plate and her Russian prince,--who to my mind is nothing but a
humbug, --won't have a word to say THEN. I consecrate to the
adornment of your room all the 'Children' I shall get in the provinces."
"Well, that's a pretty thing to say!" cried the florist. "Monster of a man!
Do you dare to talk to me of your children? Do you suppose I am going
to stand that sort of thing?"
"Oh, what a goose you are, my Jenny! That's only a figure of speech in
our business."
"A fine business, then!"
"Well, but listen; if you talk all the time you'll always be in the right."
"I mean to be. Upon my word, you take things easy!"
"You don't let me finish. I have taken under my protection a superlative
idea,--a journal, a newspaper, written for children. In our profession,
when travellers have caught, let us suppose, ten subscribers to the
'Children's Journal,' they say, 'I've got ten Children,' just as I say when I

get ten subscriptions to a newspaper called the 'Movement,' 'I've got ten
Movements.' Now don't you see?"
"That's all right. Are you going into politics? If you do you'll get into
Saint-Pelagie, and I shall have to trot down there after you. Oh! if one
only knew what one puts one's foot into when we love a man, on my
word of honor we would let you alone to take care of yourselves, you
men! However, if you are going away to-morrow we won't talk of
disagreeable things,--that would be silly."
The coach stopped before a pretty house, newly built in the Rue
d'Artois, where Gaudissart and Jenny climbed to the fourth story. This
was the abode of Mademoiselle Jenny Courand, commonly reported to
be privately married to the illustrious Gaudissart, a rumor which that
individual did not deny. To maintain her supremacy, Jenny kept him to
the performance of innumerable small attentions, and threatened
continually to turn him off if he omitted the least of them. She now
ordered him to write to her from every town, and render a minute
account of all his proceedings.
"How many 'Children' will it take to furnish my chamber?" she asked,
throwing off her shawl and sitting down by a good fire.
"I get five sous for each subscriber."
"Delightful! And is it with five sous that you expect to make me rich?
Perhaps you are like the Wandering Jew with your pockets full of
money."
"But, Jenny, I shall get a thousand 'Children.' Just reflect that children
have never had a newspaper to themselves before. But what a fool I am
to try to explain matters to you,--you can't understand such things."
"Can't I? Then tell me,--tell me, Gaudissart, if I'm such a goose why do
you love me?"
"Just because you are a goose,--a sublime goose! Listen, Jenny. See
here, I am going to undertake the 'Globe,' the 'Movement,' the

'Children,' the insurance business, and some of my old articles Paris;
instead of earning a miserable eight thousand a year, I'll bring back
twenty thousand at least from each trip."
"Unlace me, Gaudissart, and do it right; don't tighten me."
"Yes, truly," said the traveller, complacently; "I shall become a
shareholder in the newspapers, like Finot, one of my friends, the son of
a hatter, who now has thirty thousand francs income, and is going to
make himself a peer of France. When one thinks of that little
Popinot,--ah, mon Dieu! I forgot to tell you that Monsieur Popinot was
named minister of commerce yesterday. Why shouldn't I be ambitious
too? Ha! ha! I could easily pick up the jargon of those fellows who talk
in the chamber, and bluster with the rest of them. Now, listen to me:--
"Gentlemen," he said, standing behind a chair, "the Press is neither a
tool nor an article of barter: it is, viewed under its political aspects, an
institution. We are bound, in virtue of our position as legislators, to
consider all things politically, and therefore" (here he stopped to get
breath)--"and therefore we must examine the Press and ask ourselves if
it is useful or noxious, if it should be encouraged or put down, taxed or
free. These are serious questions. I feel that I do not waste the time,
always precious, of this Chamber by examining this article--the
Press--and explaining to you its qualities. We are on the verge of an
abyss. Undoubtedly the laws have not the nap which they ought to
have--Hein?" he said, looking at Jenny. "All orators put France on the
verge of an abyss. They either say that or they talk about the chariot of
state, or convulsions,