He dared not go to the
Vicar-General, and the Vicar-General never showed himself. Albert rose
and went to bed in a fever, his brain on fire.
At last the day dawned of the first struggle, practically the show of
hands; the votes are counted, the candidates estimate their chances,
and clever men can prophesy their failure or success. It is a decent
hustings, without the mob, but formidable; agitation, though it is not
allowed any physical display, as it is in England, is not the less
profound. The English fight these battles with their fists, the French
with hard words. Our neighbors have a scrimmage, the French try their
fate by cold combinations calmly worked out. This particular political
business is carried out in opposition to the character of the two
nations.
The Radical party named their candidate; Monsieur de Chavoncourt came
forward; then Albert appeared, and was accused by the Chavoncourt
committee and the Radicals of being an uncompromising man of the
Right, a second Berryer. The Ministry had their candidate, a
stalking-horse, useful only to receive the purely Ministerial votes.
The votes, thus divided, gave no result. The Republican candidate had
twenty, the Ministry got fifty, Albert had seventy, Monsieur de
Chavoncourt obtained sixty-seven. But the Prefet's party had
perfidiously made thirty of its most devoted adherents vote for
Albert, so as to deceive the enemy. The votes for Monsieur de
Chavoncourt, added to the eighty votes--the real number--at the
disposal of the Prefecture, would carry the election, if only the
Prefet could succeed in gaining over a few of the Radicals.
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