She said, for instance, that it was not true that the Marquis de Sallenauve was his father; that it was not even true that the Marquis de Sallenauve was still living; and moreover that the spurious Sallenauve was a man of no heart, who had repudiated his real parents, --adding that she could, by the help of the able man who accompanied her, compel him to disgorge the Sallenauve property and 'clear out' of the place.""I have no objection to that," said Rastignac; "but this woman must, of course, have papers to prove her allegations?""That is the weak point of the matter," replied Vinet."But let me go on with my story.The government has at Arcis a most intelligent and devoted functionary in the commissary of police.Circulating among the groups, as he usually does on market days, he heard these statements of the peasant-woman, and reported them at once, not to the mayor, who might not have heeded them, but to Madame Beauvisage.""Ah ca!" said Rastignac, addressing Maxime; "was the candidate you gave us such a dolt as that?""Just the man you needed," replied Maxime,--"silly to the last degree, and capable of being wound round anybody's finger.I'll go any lengths to repair that loss.""Madame Beauvisage," continued Vinet, "wished to speak with the woman herself, and she ordered Groslier--that's the commissary of police--to fetch her with a threatening air to the mayor's office, so as to give her an idea that the authorities disapproved of her conduct.""Did Madame Beauvisage concoct that plan?" asked Rastignac.
"Yes," replied Maxime, "she is a very clever woman.""Questioned closely by the mayoress," continued Vinet, "who took care to have the mayor present, the peasant-woman was far from categorical.
Her grounds for asserting that the new deputy could not be the son of the marquis, and the assurance with which she stated that the latter had long been dead were not, as it appears, very clearly established;vague rumors and the deductions drawn by the village practitioner seem to be all there was to them.""Then," said Rastignac, "what does all this lead to?""Absolutely nothing from a legal point of view," replied the attorney-general; "for supposing the woman were able to establish the fact that this recognition of the said Dorlange was a mere pretence, she has no status on which to proceed farther.By Article 339 of the Civil Code direct heirship alone has the right to attack the recognition of natural children.""Your balloon is collapsing fast," said the minister.