Then he bowed very politely and went away.
“Can this be possible in 1845?” cried Gazonal.
“If there were time we could show you,” said his cousin, “all the personages of 1793, and you could talk with them. You have just seen Marat; well! we know Fouquier-Tinville, Collot d’Herbois, Robespierre, Chabot, Fouche, Barras; there is even a magnificent Madame Roland.”
“Well, the tragic is not lacking in your play,” said Gazonal.
“It is six o’clock. Before we take you to see Odry in ‘Les Saltimbauques’ to-night,” said Leon to Gazonal, “we must go and pay a visit to Madame Cadine,—an actress whom your committee-man Massol cultivates, and to whom you must therefore pay the most assiduous court.”
“And as it is all important that you conciliate that power, I am going to give you a few instructions,” said Bixiou. “Do you employ workwomen in your manufactory?”
“Of course I do,” replied Gazonal.
“That’s all I want to know,” resumed Bixiou. “You are not married, and you are a great—”
“Yes!” cried Gazonal, “you’ve guessed my strong point, I’m a great lover of women.”
“Well, then! if you will execute the little manoeuvre which I am about to prescribe for you, you will taste, without spending a farthing, the sweets to be found in the good graces of an actress.”