right moment. Elisabeth saw through the window-panes the two faces of

Gobseck and Gigonnet (her uncle Bidault), which stood out in relief
against the yellow wood-work of the old cafe, like two cameo heads,

cold and impassible, in the rigid attitude that their gravity gave
them. The two Parisian misers were surrounded by a number of other old

faces, on which "thirty per cent discount" was written in circular
wrinkles that started from the nose and turned round the glacial

cheek-bones. These remarkable physiognomies brightened up on seeing
Mitral, and their eyes gleamed with tigerish curiosity.

"Hey, hey! it is papa Mitral!" cried one of them, named Chaboisseau, a
little old man who discounted for a publisher.

"Bless me, so it is!" said another, a broker named Metivier, "ha,
that's an old monkey well up in his tricks."

"And you," retorted Mitral, "you are an old crow who knows all about
carcasses."

"True," said the stern Gobseck.
"What are you here for? Have you come to seize friend Metivier?" asked

Gigonnet, pointing to the broker, who had the bluff face of a porter.
"Your great-niece Elisabeth is out there, papa Gigonnet," whispered

Mitral.
"What! some misfortune?" said Bidault. The old man drew his eyebrows

together and assumed a tender look like that of an executioner when
about to go to work officially. In spite of his Roman virtue he must

have been touched, for his red nose lost somewhat of its color.
"Well, suppose it is misfortune, won't you help Saillard's daughter?--

a girl who has knitted your stockings for the last thirty years!"
cried Mitral.

"If there's good security I don't say I won't," replied Gigonnet.
"Falleix is in with them. Falleix has just set up his brother as a

broker, and he is doing as much business as the Brezacs; and what
with? his mind, perhaps! Saillard is no simpleton."

"He knows the value of money," put in Chaboisseau.
That remark, uttered among those old men, would have made an artist

and thinker shudder as they all nodded their heads.
"But it is none of my business," resumed Bidault-Gigonnet. "I'm not

bound to care for my neighbors' misfortunes. My principle is never to
be off my guard with friends or relatives; you can't perish except

through weakness. Apply to Gobseck; he is softer."
The usurers all applauded these doctrines with a shake of their

metallic heads. An onlooker would have fancied he heard the creaking
of ill-oiled machinery.

"Come, Gigonnet, show a little feeling," said Chaboisseau, "they've
knit your stockings for thirty years."

"That counts for something," remarked Gobseck.
"Are you all alone? Is it safe to speak?" said Mitral, looking

carefully about him. "I come about a good piece of business."
"If it is good, why do you come to us?" said Gigonnet, sharply,

interrupting Mitral.
"A fellow who was a gentleman of the Bedchamber," went on Mitral, "a

former 'chouan,'--what's his name?--La Billardiere is dead."
"True," said Gobseck.

"And our nephew is giving monstrances to the church," snarled
Gigonnet.

"He is not such a fool as to give them, he sells them, old man," said
Mitral, proudly. "He wants La Billardiere's place, and in order to get

it, we must seize--"
"Seize! You'll never be anything but a sheriff's officer," put in

Metivier, striking Mitral amicably on the shoulder; "I like that, I
do!"

"Seize Monsieur Clement des Lupeaulx in our clutches," continued
Mitral; "Elisabeth has discovered how to do it, and he is--"

"Elisabeth"; cried Gigonnet, interrupting again; "dear little
creature! she takes after her grandfather, my poor brother! he never

had his equal! Ah, you should have seen him buying up old furniture;
what tact! what shrewdness! What does Elisabeth want?"

"Hey! hey!" cried Mitral, "you've got back your bowels of compassion,
papa Gigonnet! That phenomenon has a cause."

"Always a child," said Gobseck to Gigonnet, "you are too quick on the
trigger."

"Come, Gobseck and Gigonnet, listen to me; you want to keep well with
des Lupeaulx, don't you? You've not forgotten how you plucked him in

that affair about the king's debts, and you are afraid he'll ask you
to return some of his feathers," said Mitral.

"Shall we tell him the whole thing?" asked Gobseck, whispering to
Gigonnet.

"Mitral is one of us; he wouldn't play a shabby trick on his former
customers," replied Gigonnet. "You see, Mitral," he went on, speaking

to the ex-sheriff in a low voice, "we three have just bought up all
those debts, the payment of which depends on the decision of the

liquidation committee."
"How much will you lose?" asked Mitral.

"Nothing," said Gobseck.
"Nobody knows we are in it," added Gigonnet; "Samanon screens us."

"Come, listen to me, Gigonnet; it is cold, and your niece is waiting
outside. You'll understand what I want in two words. You must at once,

between you, send two hundred and fifty thousand francs (without
interest) into the country after Falleix, who has gone post-haste,

with a courier in advance of him."
"Is it possible!" said Gobseck.

"What for?" cried Gigonnet, "and where to?"
"To des Lupeaulx's magnificent country-seat," replied Mitral. "Falleix

knows the country, for he was born there; and he is going to buy up
land all round the secretary's miserable hovel, with the two hundred

and fifty thousand francs I speak of,--good land, well worth the
price. There are only nine days before us for drawing up and recording

the notarial deeds (bear that in mind). With the addition of this
land, des Lupeaulx's present miserable property would pay taxes to the

amount of one thousand francs, the sum necessary to make a man
eligible to the Chamber. Ergo, with it des Lupeaulx goes into the

electoral college, becomes eligible, count, and whatever he pleases.
You know the deputy who has slipped out and left a vacancy, don't

you?"
The two misers nodded.

"Des Lupeaulx would cut off a leg to get elected in his place,"
continued Mitral; "but he must have the title-deeds of the property in

his own name, and then mortgage them back to us for the amount of the
purchase-money. Ah! now you begin to see what I am after! First of

all, we must make sure of Baudoyer's appointment, and des Lupeaulx
will get it for us on these terms; after that is settled we will hand

him back to you. Falleix is now canvassing the electoral vote. Don't
you perceive that you have Lupeaulx completely in your power until

after the election?--for Falleix's friends are a large majority. Now
do you see what I mean, papa Gigonnet?"

"It's a clever game," said Metivier.
"We'll do it," said Gigonnet; "you agree, don't you, Gobseck? Falleix

can give us security and put mortgages on the property in my name;
we'll go and see des Lupeaulx when all is ready."

"We're robbed," said Gobseck.
"Ha, ha!" laughed Mitral, "I'd like to know the robber!"

"Nobody can rob us but ourselves," answered Gigonnet. "I told you we
were doing a good thing in buying up all des Lupeaulx's paper from his

creditors at sixty per cent discount."
"Take this mortgage on his estate and you'll hold him tighter still

through the interest," answered Mitral.
"Possibly," said Gobseck.

After exchanging a shrewd look with Gobseck, Gigonnet went to the door
of the cafe.

"Elisabeth! follow it up, my dear," he said to his niece. "We hold
your man securely; but don't neglect accessories. You have begun well,