ur son-in-law for twenty years; to-day we
wish to prove that in so doing we acted of our own free-will, and we now
elect a man of Arcis, in order to show that the old spirit of 1789, to
which you owe your fortune, still lives in the land of Danton, Malin,
Grevin, Pigoult, Marion--That is all!"

And the old man sat down. Whereupon a great hubbub arose. Achille opened
his mouth to reply. Beauvisage, who would not have thought himself
chairman unless he had rung his bell, increased the racket, and called
for silence. It was then two o'clock.

"I shall take the liberty to observe to the honorable Colonel Giguet,
whose feelings are easily understood, that he took upon himself to
speak, which is against parliamentary usage," said Achille Pigoult.

"I think it is not necessary to call the colonel to order," said the
chairman. "He is a father--"

Silence was re-established.

"We did not come here," cried Fromaget, "to say Amen to everything the
Messieurs Giguet, father and son, may wish--"

"No! no!" cried the assembly.

"Things are going badly," said Madame Marion to her cook in the garden.

"Messieurs," resumed Achille, "I confine myself to asking my friend
Simon Giguet, categorically, what he expects to do for our interests."

"Yes! yes!" cried the assembly.

"Since when," demanded Simon Giguet, "have good citizens like those of
Arcis made trade and barter of the sacred mission of deputy?"

It is impossible to represent the effect produced by noble sentiments on
a body of men. They will applaud fine maxims, while they none the less
vote for the degradation of their country, like the galley-slave who
shouted for the punishment of Robert Macaire when he saw the thing
played, and then went off and killed his own Monsieur Germeuil.

"Bravo!" cried several true-blood Giguet electors.

"You will send me to the Chamber," went on Simon, "if you do send me, to
represent principles, the principles of 1789; to be one of the ciphers,
if you choose, of the Opposition, but a cipher that votes with it to
enlighten the government, make war against abuses, and promote progress
in all things--"

"What do you call progress?" asked Fromaget. "For us, progress means
getting the waste lands of la Champagne under cultivation."

"Progress! I will explain to you what I mean by that," cried Giguet,
exasperated by the interruption.

"It is the frontier of the Rhine for France," put in the colonel, "and
the destruction of the treatie