“Monsieur!”
“I mean hasten it, reap it before it ripened. You flung yourself into journalism; then into business, questionable business; you made acquaintance with Messieurs Dutocq and Cerizet. Frankly, I think you fortunate to have entered the port which harbors you to-day. In any case, you are not sufficiently simple of heart to have really valued the joys reserved for Felix Phellion. These bourgeois—”
“These bourgeois,” said la Peyrade, quickly,—“I know them now. They have great absurdities, great vices even, but they have virtues, or, at the least, estimable qualities; in them lies the vital force of our corrupt society.”
“Your society!” said Corentin, smiling; “you speak as if you were still in the ranks. You have another sphere, my dear fellow; and you must learn to be more content with your lot. Governments pass, societies perish or dwindle; but we—we dominate all things; the police is eternal.”
TRANSLATOR’S NOTE
Note.—This volume (“Les Petits Bourgeois”) was not published
until 1854, more than three years after Balzac’s death; although
he says of it in March, 1844: “I must tell you that my work
entitled ‘Les Petits Bourgeois,’ owing to difficulties of
execution, requires still a month’s labor, although the book is
entirely written.” And again, in October, 1846, he says: “It is to
such scruples” (care in perfecting his work) “that delays which
have injured several of my works are due; for instance, ‘Les
Paysans,’ which has long been nearly finished, and ‘Les Petits
Bourgeois,’ which has been in type at the printing office for the
last eighteen months.”