" 'You don't understand it,' he said, and sitting down by the hearth,

he put a tin saucepan full of milk on the brazier.--'Will you
breakfast with me?' continued he. 'Perhaps there will be enough here

for two.'
" 'Thanks,' said I, 'I do not breakfast till noon.'

"I had scarcely spoken before hurried footsteps sounded from the
passage. The stranger stopped at Gobseck's door and rapped; there was

that in the knock which suggested a man transported with rage. Gobseck
reconnoitred him through the grating; then he opened the door, and in

came a man of thirty-five or so, judged harmlessapparently in spite
of his anger. The newcomer, who was quite plainly dressed, bore a

strong resemblance to the late Duc de Richelieu. You must often have
met him, he was the Countess' husband, a man with the aristocratic

figure (permit the expression to pass) peculiar to statesmen of your
faubourg.

" 'Sir,' said this person, addressing himself to Gobseck, who had
quite recovered his tranquillity, 'did my wife go out of this house

just now?'
" 'That is possible.'

" 'Well, sir? do you not take my meaning?'
" 'I have not the honor of the acquaintance of my lady your wife,'

returned Gobseck. 'I have had a good many visitors this morning, women
and men, and mannish young ladies, and young gentlemen who look like

young ladies. I should find it very hard to say----'
" 'A truce to jesting, sir! I mean the woman who has this moment gone

out from you.'
" 'How can I know whether she is your wife or not? I never had the

pleasure of seeing you before.'
" 'You are mistaken, M. Gobseck,' said the Count, with profound irony

in his voice. 'We have met before, one morning in my wife's bedroom.
You had come to demand payment for a bill--no bill of hers.'

" 'It was no business of mine to inquire what value she had received
for it,' said Gobseck, with a malignant look at the Count. 'I had come

by the bill in the way of business. At the same time, monsieur,'
continued Gobseck, quietly pouring coffee into his bowl of milk,

without a trace of excitement or hurry in his voice, 'you will permit
me to observe that your right to enter my house and expostulate with

me is far from proven to my mind. I came of age in the sixty-first
year of the preceding century.'

" 'Sir,' said the Count, 'you have just bought family diamonds, which
do not belong to my wife, for a mere trifle.'

" 'Without feeling it incumbent upon me to tell you my private
affairs, I will tell you this much M. le Comte--if Mme. la Comtesse

has taken your diamonds, you should have sent a circular around to all
the jewelers, giving them notice not to buy them; she might have sold

them separately.'
" 'You know my wife, sir!' roared the Count.

" 'True.'
" 'She is in her husband's power.'

" 'That is possible.'
" 'She had no right to dispose of those diamonds----'

" 'Precisely.'
" 'Very well, sir?'

" 'Very well, sir. I knew your wife, and she is in her husband's
power; I am quite willing, she is in the power of a good many people;

but--I--do--NOT--know--your diamonds. If Mme. la Comtesse can put her
name to a bill, she can go into business, of course, and buy and sell

diamonds on her own account. The thing is plain on the face of it!'
" 'Good-day, sir!' cried the Count, now white with rage. 'There are

courts of justice.'
" 'Quite so.'

" 'This gentleman here,' he added, indicating me, 'was a witness of
the sale.'

" 'That is possible.'
"The Count turned to go. Feeling the gravity of the affair, I suddenly

put in between the two belligerents.
" 'M. le Comte,' said I, 'you are right, and M. Gobseck is by no means

in the wrong. You could not prosecute the purchaser without bringing
your wife into court, and the whole of the odium would not fall on

her. I am an attorney, and I owe it to myself, and still more to my
professional position, to declare that the diamonds of which you speak

were purchased by M. Gobseck in my presence; but, in my opinion, it
would be unwise to dispute the legality of the sale, especially as the

goods are not readily recognizable. In equity our contention would
lie, in law it would collapse. M. Gobseck is too honest a man to deny

that the sale was a profitable transaction, more especially as my
conscience, no less than my duty, compels me to make the admission.

But once bring the case into a court of law, M. le Comte, the issue
would be doubtful. My advice to you is to come to terms with M.

Gobseck, who can plead that he bought the diamonds in all good faith;
you would be bound in any case to return the purchase money. Consent

to an arrangement, with power to redeem at the end of seven or eight
months, or a year even, or any convenient lapse of time, for the

repayment of the sum borrowed by Mme. la Comtesse, unless you would
prefer to repurchase them outright and give security for repayment.'

"Gobseck dipped his bread into the bowl of coffee, and ate with
perfect indifference; but at the words 'come to terms,' he looked at

me as who should say, 'A fine fellow that! he has learned something
from my lessons!' And I, for my part, riposted with a glance, which he

understood uncommonly well. The business was dubious and shady; there
was pressing need of coming to terms. Gobseck could not deny all

knowledge of it, for I should appear as a witness. The Count thanked
me with a smile of good-will.

"In the debate which followed, Gobseck showed greed enough and skill
enough to baffle a whole congress of diplomatists; but in the end I

drew up an instrument, in which the Count acknowledged the receipt of
eighty-five thousand francs, interest included, in consideration of

which Gobseck undertook to return the diamonds to the Count.
" 'What waste!' exclaimed he as he put his signature to the agreement.

'How is it possible to bridge such a gulf?'
" 'Have you many children, sir?' Gobseck asked gravely.

"The Count winced at the question; it was as if the old money-lender,
like an experiencedphysician, had put his finger at once on the sore

spot. The Comtesse's husband did not reply.
" 'Well,' said Gobseck, taking the pained silence for answer, 'I know

your story by heart. The woman is a fiend, but perhaps you love her
still; I can well believe it; she made an impression on me. Perhaps,

too, you would rather save your fortune, and keep it for one or two of
your children? Well, fling yourself into the whirlpool of society,

lose that fortune at play, come to Gobseck pretty often. The world
will say that I am a Jew, a Tartar, a usurer, a pirate, will say that

I have ruined you! I snap my fingers at them! If anybody insults me, I
lay my man out; nobody is a surer shot nor handles a rapier better

than your servant. And every one knows it. Then, have a friend--if you
can find one--and make over your property to him by a fictitious sale.

You call that a fidei commissum, don't you?' he asked, turning to me.
"The Count seemed to be entirely absorbed in his own thoughts.

" 'You shall have your money to-morrow,' he said, 'have the diamonds
in readiness,' and he went.

" 'There goes one who looks to me to be as stupid as an honest man,'
Gobseck said coolly when the Count had gone.

" 'Say rather stupid as a man of passionate nature.'
" 'The Count owes you your fee for drawing up the agreement!' Gobseck

called after me as I took my leave.
"One morning, a few days after the scene which initiated me into the

terrible depths beneath the surface of the life of a woman of fashion,
the Count came into my private office.

" 'I have come to consult you on a matter of grave moment,' he said,
'and I begin by telling you that I have perfect confidence in you, as

I hope to prove to you. Your behavior to Mme. de Grandlieu is above
all praise,' the Count went on. (You see, madame, that you have paid

me a thousand times over for a very simple matter.)
"I bowed respectfully, and replied that I had done nothing but the

duty of an honest man.
" 'Well,' the Count went on, 'I have made a great many inquiries about

the singularpersonage to whom you owe your position. And from all
that I can learn, Gobseck is a philosopher of the Cynic school. What

do you think of his probity?'