"That is like me!" continued Jéliotte. "I like my friends better when they are down! What would you have? It is my generous nature. By the way, do you know that the reason I have not seen you before is because I have not been in Paris! I have returned from Isère!"
"Ah!" said Vaudrey, thinking of Adrienne.
"Well, you know, I have still some good news for you. If you have had enough of politics, you can retire at the approaching election!"
"How?" asked Sulpice.
"Why, Thibaudier is stirring up Grenoble. He has got the whole city with him. He is very much liked and is a model mayor. He is a very mère—mother—that mayor!—Jéliotte laughed heartily, believing that he was funny.—If there is a list balloted for, and there certainly will be, Thibaudier will head the list. If they had maintained the scrutin d'arrondissement, he would have been capable of passing muster, all the same!"
"Against me?"
"Against you. Thibaudier is very popular!—And as firm as a rock!—He thinks you moderate, too moderate, as everybody else does!"
"He?—He was a member of the Plebiscite Committee under the Empire!"
"Exactly! He is an extreme Republican, just as he was an extreme Bonapartist. Oh! Thibaudier is a man, there is no concession with him. Never! He is always the same. He will beat you. Moreover, in Isère, they want a homogeneous representation—"
"Again!" said Vaudrey, who felt that he was pursued by this word.