ion, there was not wanting a certain
hypocrisy, or rather that spirit of imitation which always leads France
to model herself on the Court, and, quite unintentionally, to deceive
the powers that be.

Officials of both complexions were to be found in the court in which
young d'Esgrignon's fate depended. M. le President du Ronceret and an
elderly judge, Blondet by name, represented the section of functionaries
shelved for good, and resigned to stay where they were; while the young
and ambitious party comprised the examining magistrate M. Camusot, and
his deputy M. Michu, appointed through the interests of the Cinq-Cygnes,
and certain of promotion to the Court of Appeal of Paris at the first
opportunity.

President du Ronceret held a permanent post; it was impossible to turn
him out. The aristocratic party declined to give him what he considered
to be his due, socially speaking; so he declared for the bourgeoisie,
glossed over his disappointment with the name of independence, and
failed to realize that his opinions condemned him to remain a president
of a court of the first instance for the rest of his life. Once started
in this track the sequence of events led du Ronceret to place his hopes
of advancement on the triumph of du Croisier and the Left. He was in no
better odor at the Prefecture than at the Court-Royal. He was compelled
to keep on good terms with the authorities; the Liberals distrusted him,
consequently he belonged to neither party. He was obliged to resign
his chances of election to du Croisier, he exercised no influence, and
played a secondary part. The false position reacted on his character;
he was soured and discontented; he was tired of political ambiguity, and
privately had made up his mind to come forward openly as leader of the
Liberal party, and so to strike ahead of du Croisier. His behavior in
the d'Esgrignon affair was the first step in this direction. To begin
with, he was an admirable representative of that section of the middle
classes which allows its petty passions to obscure the wider interests
of the country; a class of crotchety politicians, upholding the
government one day and opposing it the next, compromising every cause
and helping none; helpless after they have done the mischief till
they set about brewing more; unwilling to face their own incompetence,
thwarting authority while professing to serve it. With a compound of
arrogance and humility they demand of the people more submissi