“Your balloon is collapsing fast,” said the minister.
“So that the woman,” continued Vinet, “has no object in proceeding, for she can’t inherit; it belongs to the government to pursue the case of supposition of person; she can do no more than denounce the fact.”
“From which you conclude?” said Rastignac, with that curtness of speech which to a prolix speaker is a warning to be concise.
“From which I conclude, judicially speaking, that the Romilly peasant-woman, so far as she is concerned, will have her trouble for her pains; but, speaking politically, the thing takes quite another aspect.”
“Let us see the political side,” said the minister; “up to this point, I see nothing.”
“In the first place,” replied the attorney-general, “you will admit that it is always possible to bring a bad case?”
“Certainly.”
“And I don’t suppose it would signify much to you if the woman did embark in a matter in which she can lose nothing but her costs?”
“No, I assure you I am wholly indifferent.”
“In any case, I should have advised you to let things take their course. The Beauvisage husband and wife have engaged to pay the costs and also the expense of keeping the peasant-woman and her counsel in Paris during the inquiry.”