"whether with the
Premiership you are to take the Seals or the Interior?"

Garain replied that his decision would depend on the choice which some
one else would make. The presence of that personage in the Cabinet was
necessary, and he hesitated between two portfolios. Garain sacrificed his
personal convenience to superior interests.

Senator Loyer made a wry face. He wanted the Seals. It was a
long-cherished desire. A teacher of law under the Empire, he gave, in
cafes, lessons that were appreciated. He had the sense of chicanery.
Having begun his political fortune with articles skilfully written in
order to attract to himself prosecution, suits, and several weeks of
imprisonment, he had considered the press as a weapon of opposition which
every good government should break. Since September 4, 1870, he had had
the ambition to become Keeper of the Seals, so that everybody might see
how the old Bohemian who formerly explained the code while dining on
sauerkraut, would appear as supreme chief of the magistracy.

Idiots by the dozen had climbed over his back. Now having become aged in
the ordinary honors of the Senate, unpolished, married to a brewery girl,
poor, lazy, disillusioned, his old Jacobin spirit and his sincere
contempt for the people surviving his ambition, made of him a good man
for the Government. This time, as a part of the Garain combination, he
imagined he held the Department of Justice. And his protector, who would
not give it to him, was an unfortunate rival. He laughed, while moulding
a dog from a piece of bread.

M. Berthier-d'Eyzelles, calm and grave, caressed his handsome white
beard.

"Do you not think, Monsieur Garain, that it would be well to give a place
in the Cabinet to the men who have followed from the beginning the
political principles toward which we are directing ourselves to-day?"

"They lost themselves in doing it," replied Garam, impatiently. "The
politician never should be in advance of circumstances. It is an error to
be in the right too soon. Thinkers are not men of business. And then--let
us talk frankly--if you want a Ministry of the Left Centre variety, say
so: I will retire. But I warn you that neither the Chamber nor the
country will sustain you."

"It is evident," said Count Martin, "that we must be sure of a majority."

"With my list, we have a majority," said Garain. "It is the minority
which sustained the Ministry against us. Gentlemen, I appeal to your
devotion."