By an indiscretion (often
practised by heads of departments in favor of their friends) one of
the secretaries showed him a document confirming the fatal news, which
was only waiting the signature of the director, who was ill, to be
submitted to the minister.
The Baron de Listomere went immediately to an uncle of his, a deputy,
who could see the minister of the Navy at the chamber without loss of
time, and begged him to find out the real intentions of his Excellency
in a matter which threatened the loss of his whole future. He waited
in his uncle's carriage with the utmost anxiety for the end of the
session. His uncle came out before the Chamber rose, and said to him
at once as they drove away: "Why the devil have you meddled in a
priest's quarrel? The minister began by telling me you had put
yourself at the head of the Radicals in Tours; that your political
opinions were objectionable; you were not following in the lines of
the government,--with other remarks as much involved as if he were
addressing the Chamber. On that I said to him, 'Nonsense; let us come
to the point.' The end was that his Excellency told me frankly you
were in bad odor with the diocese. In short, I made a few inquiries
among my colleagues, and I find that you have been talking slightingly
of a certan Abbe Troubert, the vicar-general, but a very important
personage in the province, where he represents the Jesuits. I have
made myself responsible to the minister for your future conduct.
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