"Say no more about it, my good Eglinton," said Bénédict, with easy condescension; "your nephew will get his promotion on the word of a Stainville."
Peace and amity being once more restored between the two friends, M. Joseph thought that he had now remained silent far longer than was compatible with his own importance.
"It is very difficult, of course, in our position," he said pompously, "to do justice to the many demands which are made on our influence and patronage. Take my own case, for instance—my Duke leaves all appointments in my hands. In the morning, whilst I shave him, I have but to mention a name to him in connection with any post under Government that happens to be vacant, and immediately the favoured one, thus named by me, receives attention, nearly always followed by a nomination."
"Hem! hem!" came very discreetly from the lips of M. Bénédict.
"You said?" queried Joseph, with a slight lifting of the right eyebrow.
"Oh! nothing—nothing! I pray you continue; the matter is vastly entertaining."
"At the present moment," continued M. Joseph, keeping a suspicious eye on the other man, "I am deeply worried by this proposal which comes from the Parliaments of Rennes and Paris."
"A new Ministry of Finance to be formed," quoth M. Achille. "We know all about it."
"With direct control of the nation's money and responsible to the Parliaments alone," assented Joseph. "The Parliaments! Bah!" he added in tones of supreme contempt, "bourgeois the lot of them!"
"Their demands are preposterous, so says my milor. 'Tis a marvel His Majesty has given his consent."