ts and relapses might be expected, and the good man's life and
reason hung in the balance.

"It would be better for him to die at once," the doctor said as he took
leave.

Eugene left Goriot to Bianchon's care, and went to carry the sad news to
Mme. de Nucingen. Family feeling lingered in her, and this must put an
end for the present to her plans of amusement.

"Tell her to enjoy her evening as if nothing had happened," cried
Goriot. He had been lying in a sort of stupor, but he suddenly sat
upright as Eugene went out.

Eugene, half heartbroken, entered Delphine's. Her hair had been dressed;
she wore her dancing slippers; she had only to put on her ball-dress;
but when the artist is giving the finishing stroke to his creation, the
last touches require more time than the whole groundwork of the picture.

"Why, you are not dressed!" she cried.

"Madame, your father----"

"My father again!" she exclaimed, breaking in upon him. "You need not
teach me what is due to my father, I have known my father this long
while. Not a word, Eugene. I will hear what you have to say when you
are dressed. My carriage is waiting, take it, go round to your rooms and
dress, Therese has put out everything in readiness for you. Come back
as soon as you can; we will talk about my father on the way to Mme. de
Beauseant's. We must go early; if we have to wait our turn in a row of
carriages, we shall be lucky if we get there by eleven o'clock."

"Madame----"

"Quick! not a word!" she cried, darting into her dressing-room for a
necklace.

"Do go, Monsieur Eugene, or you will vex madame," said Therese, hurrying
him away; and Eugene was too horror-stricken by this elegant parricide
to resist.

He went to his rooms and dressed, sad, thoughtful, and dispirited. The
world of Paris was like an ocean of mud for him just then; and it seemed
that whoever set foot in that black mire must needs sink into it up to
the chin.

"Their crimes are paltry," said Eugene to himself. "Vautrin was
greater."

He had seen society in its three great phases--Obedience, Struggle,
and Revolt; the Family, the World, and Vautrin; and he hesitated in his
choice. Obedience was dull, Revolt impossible, Struggle hazardous.
His thoughts wandered back to the home circle. He thought of the quiet
uneventful life, the pure happiness of the days spent among those who
loved him there. Those loving and beloved beings passed their lives in
obedience to the natural laws of th