The record-union., 1893-05-27
A RESTITUTION.

Nt'A 5COo w 4CCA LLlS pUl5S Ol puD4IC
ion in his own little city.
Comfortably installed in the corner of
the coach Monsieur Grandcadet unfolds
an Immense evening journal, a very
thoughtful, ministerial journal, set forth
IN prose as heavy and lugubrious as
virtue herself, and whose very typogra-
ply has grave and puritanical air. The
Panama episode - insignificant as we
well know, and exaggerated so malevo-
lently by the enemies OF the Republics
dlsdainfully relegated to the third page,
and all that relates to it is set up in small
type and is almost illegible. Per contra
the columns of the austere organ are bur-
dened with foreign politics, with articles
Of palpitating interest, which begin in
these terms: Things are going to the
bad IN eneZuela;" or, Can it be that
the days of the Tricoupis Ministry are
numbered?'
10 keep himself in countenance before
the gentlemen with the white lnustaches
OF a retired Colonel, who sits opposite
hIm and quietly reads La Coc0yde, Mon
sleur Grandcadet does not take his eyes
on the official sheet, but appears to feel
a passionate interest in the Hellenic
crisis and in the latest dispatches from
caracas. In reality, however, NJ. Grand
cadet has been greatly shaken by late
events, and dark inquietude lives in his
soul.
His name has not yet been uttered.
Good. he has written or put his name
to nothing. Capital. But who can an
sWer Tor 1t as the times go, that some
compromising paper concerning him will
not be brought to light one Of these fine
days? For in fine, he, like his comrade,
the honorable man, has received his
JratIfIV and has no thnItrrht ha
ing any harm. Look at it. l will let
you judge for yourself. He had no opin-
ION OF his own in regard to the last call
for funds. He was hesitating man
OF considerable Importance, a rich bank
er, whom he frequently met in political
circles, with whom he maintained the
most agreeable relations-almOSt a friend
opened his eyes, showed him how APP
propriate-what shall l say?-how patri-
otlc 1t was to vote in favor of utterance.
Ihls man, who knows the polite world,
who Is perfect gentleman, proposes to
hlm-oh! i'll terms of the utmost delicacy
to associate him with the financial op-
eratlons which are so naturally preparing
IN connection with this huge affair, and
assures to him-even pays him in ad-
vance to quiet his scruples-a profit, not
an enormous one, bless you! but a
wretched trite OF $4,000 francs. You
need not speak a word in protest. You
would have accepted yourself just as did
Nj. Grandcadet.
J. know what you are going to saw ::
And what about the subscribers" Let
US reason together. In case of success
they would have said nothing at all, be-
cause they would have made an excellent
Investment. They were gamblers, and
that is all there is about it. Would you
know my way of looking at it? They
are OF no consequence whatever, the sub
scribers. Had Grandcadet any means Of
predicting that the famous canal would
never be opened? Why, already, several
times he had realized protits-trtles-in
affairs of the same kind, which had more
or less OF success. Nobody had com
planned.
well, then, frankly, with his hand on
ms conscience, he reproached himself for
nothing. And shall we tell the whole
truth? he had no faith whatever in this
explosion of public anger. 1t was en-
tlreIy fictitious. 1t was easy to recog-
nize, behind all this ready-made indigna-
ton, conspiracy Of the old parties, the
hand of the Count of Paris and of the
Boulangists. The President OF the Coun-
sci had told them so to their face. All.
but!-1ortunately he, Grandcadet, had
been there to defend the jeopardized Re-
public. At the peril of his life, if you
please! You would scarcely have be-
lleved him capable of it, with his round
paunch, his whiskers in the shape of
hare's foot, and his mien of rakish no
tary posing in readiness to pierce hole
through the moon. But when the must
ard got up into his nose! Yes, had it
been absolutely necessarily, he would
have offered himself to be slain on bar
rlcade, and would have cried, like the
heroic Baudin: Come and see how a
man can die-for %, 900 francs!"
And yet, in spite of all this clear reason
ing the lOOOrabIa dppntU from,
GarrOnes was not happy.
u might as well try to rest little" he
said to himself.
He pulled his travelling cap well down
over his bald pate, drew his rug about
his legs, stretched himself out on the
seat ana soon was sleeping profoundly.
But then he had a nightmare. Was
he oppressed by remorse? For my part
l should be reader to believe that he had
done wrong to eat jugged hare, in dining
at the buffet OF the railway station. He
should have been more cautious. The
hare was not a success with him.
His dreams were absurd.
He saw himself first. returning to bis
own house, opening his strong box. per
ceiving that he had been robbed. and that
IN place OF the big green Morocco pocket
book in which he kept all his papers.
there was nothing but an old woolen
stocking absolutely empty. Next. he
was suddenly transported to the Cham
Der of Deputies, but he was alone on his
seat in the empty hall which was hardly
lighted by the faint twilight. All the
desks were shut, all the doors were
closed. There was no trace of a human
being left, except an enormous high hat.
as large as garden reservoir, standing
on the Presidents desk. Grandcadet
was looking stupidity at it, when the
monstrous head covering exploded and
began to pour forth an innumerable
quantity OF little squares of white paper
and on them all the unfortunate denntv
endowed OF sudden with a supernatural
power of vision, was able to read the
name OF his rival in the last election.
But all at once the hat shut down on itself
like a limp, empty bag; the ceiling sank.
the walls drew together, and Grandcadet
at the highest pitch of surprise and hor-
ror, found himself before the Court of
ASsiZes, between two gendarmes, and
recognized under the red-sleeved robes
and gold-laced toques of the President
and the two assessors, his porter, his
hair-dresser, and his housekeeper from
Paris, all three ruined in the Panama
affair. And the President stood up and
read in a cavernous voice an extraor-
dinary sentence which condemned the
Sieur Grandcadet, an ex-deputy, to gid
the Eif1el Tower at his own expense
within six months, and afterward to be
impaled en- the lightning rod of that
editce.
This was too frightful. The mem Der of
Parliament awoke with start. 1t was
early day. NJ. Grandcadet recognized
the hillsides and vineyards of his electo-
raj native land.
"Jugged hare decidedly does not suit
me,' he thought. Il have had very stu
pid dreams. But let me dismiss these
forebodings. l am sure of my constitu-
ency. There are no Socialists; and the
only possible candidate OF the Monarch
lists, the Marquis of La Tour Prud-