They are afraid."
"I swear to you that I will listen to everything," replied Sulpice, "and
I will strive to understand everything. And since I have the power--"
Denis Ramel shook his head:
"Power? Ah! you will see if that is ever taken in any but homoeopathic
doses! Why, you will have against you the _bureaux_, those sacrosanct
_bureaux_ that have governed this country since bureaucracy has existed,
and they will cram more than one Warcolier down your throat, I warn
you."
"Yes, if I allow it," said Vaudrey haughtily.
"Eh! my poor friend, you have already allowed it," said the veteran.
He had risen, Vaudrey had taken his hat, and he said to the minister,
leaning on his arm, with gentle familiarity, as he led him to the door:
"Power is like a kite, but there is always some rascal who holds the
thread."
"Come, come," said Vaudrey, "you are a pessimist!"
"I confess that Schopenhauer is not unpleasant to me--sometimes."
Thereupon they separated, after a cordial grasp of the hand, and Denis
Ramel resumed his pipe and his seat at the window corner, while the
minister carried away from this interview, as if he had not already been
in the habit of a frank interchange of opinions, an agreeable though
perhaps anxious impression.
He felt the need of _mentally digesting_ this conversation: the idea of
going back, on this beautiful February day, to his official apartments
did not enter his mind.
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