s a man of genius, but his passions,
like those of your uncle, dragged him down. But go up higher (for there
lies the whole question, namely, the rung of the ladder on which a man
has wits enough to perch). Take the prefect, for instance, that honored
minister, flattered and respected, is he a spy? Well, I, monsieur,
am the prefect of the secret police of diplomacy--of the highest
statesmanship. And you hesitate to mount that throne!--to seem small and
do great things; to live in a cave comfortably arranged like this, and
command the light; to have at your orders an invisible army, always
ready, always devoted, always submissive; to know the _other side_ of
everything; to be duped by no intrigue because you hold the threads of
all within your fingers; to see through all partitions; to penetrate all
secrets, search all hearts, all consciences,--these are the things you
fear! And yet you were not afraid to go and wallow in a Thuillier
bog; you, a thoroughbred, allowed yourself to be harnessed to a
hackney-coach, to the ignoble business of electing that parvenu
bourgeois."

"A man does what he can," said la Peyrade.

"Here's a very remarkable thing," pursued Corentin, replying to his own
thought; "the French language, more just than public opinion, has given
us our right place, for it has made the word police the synonym of
civilization and the antipodes of savage life, when it said and wrote:
'l'Etat police,' from the Greek words state and city. So, I can assure
you, we care little for the prejudice that tries to brand us; none know
men as we do; and to know them brings contempt for their contempt as
well as for their esteem."

"There is certainly much truth in what you say with such warmth," said
la Peyrade, finally.

"Much truth!" exclaimed Corentin, going back to his chair, "say, rather,
that it is all true, and nothing but the truth; yet it is not the whole
truth. But enough for to-day, monsieur. To succeed me in my functions,
and to marry your cousin with a 'dot' that will not be less than five
hundred thousand francs, that is my offer. I do not ask you for an
answer now. I should have no confidence in a determination not seriously
reflected upon. To-morrow, I shall be at home all the morning. I trust
that my conviction may then have formed yours."

Dismissing his visitor with a curt little bow, he added: "I do not bid
you adieu, but au revoir, Monsieur de la Peyrade."

Whereupon Corentin went to a side-table,