lying in bed till noon because a crisis never finds him asleep."
"So far so good, but just get to his fortune," said Finot.

"Bixiou will lash that off at a stroke," replied Blondet. "Rastignac's
fortune was Delphine de Nucingen, a remarkable woman; she combines

boldness with foresight."
"Did she ever lend you money?" inquired Bixiou. Everybody burst out

laughing.
"You are mistaken in her," said Couture, speaking to Blondet; "her

cleverness simply consists in making more or less piquant remarks, in
loving Rastignac with tediousfidelity, and obeying him blindly. She

is a regular Italian."
"Money apart," Andoche Finot put in sourly.

"Oh, come, come," said Bixiou coaxingly; "after what we have just been
saying, will you venture to blame poor Rastignac for living at the

expense of the firm of Nucingen, for being installed in furnished
rooms precisely as La Torpille was once installed by our friend des

Lupeaulx? You would sink to the vulgarity of the Rue Saint-Denis!
First of all, 'in the abstract,' as Royer-Collard says, the question

may abide the Kritik of Pure Reason; as for the impure reason----"
"There he goes!" said Finot, turning to Blondet.

"But there is reason in what he says," exclaimed Blondet. "The problem
is a very old one; it was the grand secret of the famous duel between

La Chataigneraie and Jarnac. It was cast up to Jarnac that he was on
good terms with his mother-in-law, who, loving him only too well,

equipped him sumptuously. When a thing is so true, it ought not to be
said. Out of devotion to Henry II., who permitted himself this

slander, La Chataigneraie took it upon himself, and there followed the
duel which enriched the French language with the expression coup de

Jarnac."
"Oh! does it go so far back? Then it is noble?" said Finot.

"As a proprietor of newspapers and reviews of old standing, you are
not bound to know that," said Blondet.

"There are women," Bixiou gravely resumed, "and for that matter, men
too, who can cut their lives in two and give away but one-half.

(Remark how I word my phrase for you in humanitarian language.) For
these, all material interests lie without the range of sentiment. They

give their time, their life, their honor to a woman, and hold that
between themselves it is not the thing to meddle with bits of tissue

paper bearing the legend, 'Forgery is punishable with death.' And
equally they will take nothing from a woman. Yes, the whole thing is

debased if fusion of interests follows on fusion of souls. This is a
doctrine much preached, and very seldom practised."

"Oh, what rubbish!" cried Blondet. "The Marechal de Richelieu
understood something of gallantry, and he settled an allowance of a

thousand louis d'or on Mme. de la Popeliniere after that affair of the
hiding-place behind the hearth. Agnes Sorel, in all simplicity, took

her fortune to Charles VII., and the King accepted it. Jacques Coeur
kept the crown for France; he was allowed to do it, and woman-like,

France was ungrateful."
"Gentlemen," said Bixiou, "a love that does not imply an indissoluble

friendship, to my thinking, is momentary libertinage. What sort of
entire surrender is it that keeps something back? Between these two

diametrically opposed doctrines, the one as profoundly" target="_blank" title="ad.深深地">profoundly immoral as the
other, there is no possible compromise. It seems to me that any

shrinking from a complete union is surely due to a belief that the
union cannot last, and if so, farewell to illusion. The passion that

does not believe that it will last for ever is a hideous thing. (Here
is pure unadulterated Fenelon for you!) At the same time, those who

know the world, the observer, the man of the world, the wearers of
irreproachable gloves and ties, the men who do not blush to marry a

woman for her money, proclaim the necessity of a complete separation
of sentiment and interest. The other sort are lunatics that love and

imagine that they and the woman they love are the only two beings in
the world; for them millions are dirt; the glove or the camellia

flower that She wore is worth millions. If the squandered filthy lucre
is never to be found again in their possession, you find the remains

of floral relics hoarded in dainty cedar-wood boxes. They cannot
distinguish themselves one from the other; for them there is no 'I'

left. THOU--that is their Word made flesh. What can you do? Can you
stop the course of this 'hidden disease of the heart'? There are fools

that love without calculation and wise men that calculate while they
love."

"To my thinking Bixiou is sublime," cried Blondet. "What does Finot
say to it?"

"Anywhere else," said Finot, drawing himself up in his cravat,
"anywhere else, I should say, with the 'gentlemen'; but here, I

think----"
"With the scoundrelly scapegraces with whom you have the honor to

associate?" said Bixiou.
"Upon my word, yes."

"And you?" asked Bixiou, turning to Couture.
"Stuff and nonsense!" cried Couture. "The woman that will not make a

stepping-stone of her body, that the man she singles out may reach his
goal, is a woman that has no heart except for her own purposes."

"And you, Blondet?"
"I do not preach, I practise."

"Very good," rejoined Bixiou in his most ironical tones. "Rastignac
was not of your way of thinking. To take without repaying is

detestable, and even rather bad form; but to take that you may render
a hundred-fold, like the Lord, is a chivalrous deed. This was

Rastignac's view. He felt profoundly" target="_blank" title="ad.深深地">profoundly humiliated by his community of
interests with Delphine de Nucingen; I can tell you that he regretted

it; I have seen him deploring his position with tears in his eyes.
Yes, he shed tears, he did indeed--after supper. Well, now to OUR way

of thinking----"
"I say, you are laughing at us," said Finot.

"Not the least in the world. We were talking of Rastignac. From your
point of view his affliction would be a sign of his corruption; for by

that time he was not nearly so much in love with Delphine. What would
you have? he felt the prick in his heart, poor fellow. But he was a

man of noble descent and profound depravity, whereas we are virtuous
artists. So Rastignac meant to enrich Delphine; he was a poor man, she

a rich woman. Would you believe it?--he succeeded. Rastignac, who
might have fought at need, like Jarnac, went over to the opinion of

Henri II. on the strength of his great maxim, 'There is no such thing
as absolute right; there are only circumstances.' This brings us to

the history of his fortune."
"You might just as well make a start with your story instead of

drawing us on to traduce ourselves," said Blondet with urbane good
humor.

"Aha! my boy," returned Bixiou, administering a little tap to the back
of Blondet's head, "you are making up for lost time over the

champagne!"
"Oh! by the sacred name of shareholder, get on with your story!" cried

Couture.
"I was within an ace of it," retorted Bixiou, "but you with your

profanity have brought me to the climax."
"Then, are there shareholders in the tale?" inquired Finot.

"Yes; rich as rich can be--like yours."
"It seems to me," Finot began stiffly, "that some consideration is

owing to a good fellow to whom you look for a bill for five hundred
francs upon occasion----"

"Waiter!" called Bixiou.
"What do you want with the waiter?" asked Blondet.

"I want five hundred francs to repay Finot, so that I can tear up my
I. O. U. and set my tongue free."

"Get on with your story," said Finot, making believe to laugh.
"I take you all to witness that I am not the property of this insolent