"
Lucien had flushed red to the tips of his ears. Blondet tapped on the
window above Dauriat's desk.
"Is your business likely to keep you long, Dauriat?"
"I am at your service, my friend."
"That's right," said Lousteau, addressing his protege. "That young
fellow is hardly any older than you are, and he is on the _Debats_! He
is one of the princes of criticism. They are afraid of him, Dauriat
will fawn upon him, and then we can put in a word about our business
with the pasha of vignettes and type. Otherwise we might have waited
till eleven o'clock, and our turn would not have come. The crowd of
people waiting to speak with Dauriat is growing bigger every moment."
Lucien and Lousteau followed Blondet, Finot, and Vernou, and stood in
a knot at the back of the shop.
"What is he doing?" asked Blondet of the head-clerk, who rose to bid
him good-evening.
"He is buying a weekly newspaper. He wants to put new life into it,
and set up a rival to the _Minerve_ and the _Conservateur_; Eymery has
rather too much of his own way in the _Minerve_, and the _Conservateur_ is
too blindly Romantic."
"Is he going to pay well?"
"Only too much--as usual," said the cashier.
Just as he spoke another young man entered; this was the writer of a
magnificent novel which had sold very rapidly and met with the
greatest possible success.
Pages:
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191