round her husband, goading
him on to bestir himself. The first rumours of the Revolution that had
overturned King Louis Philippe had terrified Pierre. When his wife,
however, made him understand that they had little to lose and much to
gain from a convulsion, he soon came round to her way of thinking.

"I don't know what you can do," Felicite repeatedly said, "but it seems
to me that there's plenty to be done. Did not Monsieur de Carnavant say
to us one day that he would be rich if ever Henri V. should return, and
that this sovereign would magnificently recompense those who had worked
for his restoration? Perhaps our fortune lies in that direction. We may
yet be lucky."

The Marquis de Carnavant, the nobleman who, according to the scandalous
talk of the town, had been on very familiar terms with Felicite's
mother, used occasionally to visit the Rougons. Evil tongues asserted
that Madame Rougon resembled him. He was a little, lean, active man,
seventy-five years old at that time, and Felicite certainly appeared to
be taking his features and manner as she grew older. It was said that
the wreck of his fortune, which had already been greatly diminished by
his father at the time of the Emigration, had been squandered on women.
Indeed, he cheerfully acknowledged his poverty. Brought up by one of
his relatives, the Count de Valqueyras, he lived the life of a parasite,
eating at the count's table and occupying a small apartment just under
his roof.

"Little one," he would often say to Felicite, as he patted her on
the cheek, "if ever Henri V. gives me a fortune, I will make you my
heiress!"

He still called Felicite "little one," even when she was fifty years
old. It was of these friendly pats, of these repeated promises of an
inheritance, that Madame Rougon was thinking when she endeavoured
to drive her husband into politics. Monsieur de Carnavant had often
bitterly lamented his inability to render her any assistance. No
doubt he would treat her like a father if ever he should acquire some
influence. Pierre, to whom his wife half explained the situation in
veiled terms, declared his readiness to move in any direction indicated.

The marquis's peculiar position qualified him to act as an energetic
agent of the reactionary movement at Plassans from the first days of the
Republic. This bustling little man, who had everything to gain from the
return of his legitimate sovereigns, worked assiduously for their cause.
While the