The Deputy of Arcis

Publisher Marketing: Excerpt: ... made your attempt to penetrate a secret the existence of which had become apparent to you." "You made haste to escape me," I said laughing. "It was then you went to Stockholm." "No, I went to your father's residence; I put the letter that he gave me for you into the post at Stockholm." "I do not seize your-" "Nothing is easier to understand," interrupted the marquis. "I do not reside in Sweden, and we wished to throw you off the track." "Will you continue the explanation yourself?" asked Jacques Bricheteau, who spoke, as you may have observed, my dear friend, with elegance and fluency. "No, no, go on," said the marquis; "you are giving it admirably." "Feeling certain that your equivocal position as to family would injure the political career your father desired you to enter, I made that remark to him in one of my letters. He agreed with me, and resolved to hasten the period of your legal recognition, which, indeed, the extinction of the family in its other branch rendered desirable. But the recognition of a natural son is a serious act which the law surrounds with many precautions. Deeds must be signed before a notary, and to do this by power of attorney would involve both in a publicity which he is anxious for the present to avoid, he being married, and, as it were, naturalized in the country of his adoption. Hence, he decided to come here himself, obtaining leave of absence for a few weeks, in order to sign in person all papers necessary to secure to you his name and property in this country. Now let me put to you a final question. Do you consent to take the name of de Sallenauve and be recognized as his son?" "I am not a lawyer," I answered; "but it seems to me that, supposing I do not feel honored by this recognition, it does not wholly depend on me to decline it." "Pardon me," replied Jacques Bricheteau; "under the circumstances you could, if you chose, legally contest the paternity. I will also add, -and in doing so I am sure that I... Contributor Bio:  De Balzac, Honore A prolific writer, Honore de Balzac (1799-1850) is generally regarded, along with Gustave Flaubert, as a founding father of realism in European literature, and as one of France's greatest fiction writers.