The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1893-04-23
A RESTITUTION.
Translated from the French

After the close Of the parliamentary
session the Hon. NJ. Grandcadet, deputy
from Deux-Garonnes, takes the express
gratis, be 1t understood, with his pass
and goes to feel the pulse Of public opinion
in his own little city.
Comfortably installed in . corner of
the coach, Monsieur Grandcadet unfolds
an immense evening journal, q very
thoughtful ministerial journal, set forth
in prose as heavy and lugubrious as
virtue herself, and whose very typog-
raphy has . grave and puritanical air.
The Panama episode-insignificant, as
We well know, and exaggerated 30 malev-
olently by the enemies of the republic-is
disdainfully relegated to the third page,
and all that relates to it 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 Venezuela" or ''Can it be that the days
of the Tricoupis ministry are numbered ?"
To keep himself In countenance before
the gentleman with the white mustaches
of retired colonel, who sits opposite him
and quietly reads La Cocarde, Monsieur
Grandcadet does not take his eyes off the
official sheet, but appears to feel . passion
ate interest in the Hellenic crisis and in
the latest dispatches from Caracas. In
reality, however, NJ. Grandcadet 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 answer
for it a. the times 60, that some compro-
missing paper concerning him will not be
brought toAight one of these fine days?
For in fine, he, like his comrade, the hon.
orable man, has received his gratuity. and
Look at it: l will let you judge for your
self. He had no opinion of his own in re-
gard to tho last call for funds; he was
hesitating. A man of considerable impor-
lance, a rich banker, whom he
frequently met in political circles,
most agreeable relations-almost q
friend-opened his eyes. showed
him how appropriate-whats shall say Pa
how patriotic it was to vote in favor Of
utterance. This man, who knows the po-
| lite world. who il . perfect gentleman,
proposes to him-oh in terms of the ut
| most delicacy Ito associate him with the
| financial operations which are so natur-
ally preparing in connection with this
huge affair. and assures to him, even
| pays him in advance, to quiet his scruples,
| q profit, not an enormous one. bless you'll
but wretched trifle of q, 600 francs. You
| need not speak . word in protest. You
would have accepted yourself, just a. did
| N. Grandcadet.
know what you are going to say: "And
| what about the subscribers?" Let US rea-
| son together. In case of success they
| would have said nothing at all, because
they would have made an excellent invest
ment. They were gamblers, and that is
| all there is about it. Would you know my
sequence whatever, the subscribers. Had
Grandcadet any means of predicting
| that the famous canal would never be
| opened7 Why, already, several times, he
had realized profits-trifles--in affairs of
the same kind, which had had more or
Well then. frankly, with his hand on
his 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-
| tirely Fictitious. 1t was easy to recog-
nize. behind all this ready-made indlg-
nation, q conspiracy of the old parties.
the hand of the Count of Paris, and of
| the Boulangists. The president of the
| council had told them SO TO their face.
Ali but!-fortunately he. Grandcadet,
had been there to defend tho jeopardized
| republic. At the peril of his life, if you
pleased You would scarcely have be-
| paunch. his whiskers in tho shape of q
hare's foot, and his mien of . rakish no
| tary posing in readiness to pierce q hole
| through the moon. But when the mus
tard got up into his nose! Yes, had it
been absolutely necessary, he would have
offered himself to be slain on barricade.
and would have cried, like the heroic
Baudin: "Come and see how man can
die-for 5000 francs!''
| And yet, in spite of all this clear reason
ing, the honorable deputy from Deux
| Garrones was not happy.
| II 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 tho seat and
| soon was sleeping profoundly.
| But then he had nightmare. Was he
| oppressed by remorse? For my part
| should be reader to believe that he had
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 his
| 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 WOODEN
stocking absolutely empty. Next he was
suddenly transported TO the chamber Of
| deputies, but he was alone on his seat in
the empty hail, which was hardly
| lighted by the faint twilight. All the
desks were shut, all the doors were
| closed. There was no trace OF human
being left, except an enormous, high hat,
| as large as a 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 deputy, endowed OF q sudden
| with 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 q limp. empty bag;
| the ceiling sank. the walls drew together
| and Grandcaiet, at the highest pitch OF
| surprise and horror. found himself before
| the court of assizes, between two gen.
| darmes, and recognized under the red
| sleeved robes and goid-isced toques OF the
| president and the two assessors, his por-
/ ter his hairdresser and his housekeeper
| from Paris all three ruined in the Panama
affair. And the president stood up and
Iead in a cavernous voice. an extraor-
| binary sentence which condemned the
| Sieur Grandcadet. an ex-deputy, to gid
| the Elffel tower at his own expense
| within six months. and Afterwards 70 be
| impaled on the lightning rod Of that
edifice.
This was too frightful. The member of
| parliament awoke with . start. 1t was
| early day. NJ. Grandcadet recognized the