his own poverty or uttered one word about
money,--Theodose began to assume an air that was rather less servile
than it had been. Brigitte and Thuillier said to him one day:--

"Nothing can deprive you of our esteem; you are here in this house as if
in your own home; the opinion of Minard and Phellion, which you seem to
fear, has no more value for us than a stanza of Victor Hugo. Therefore,
let them talk! Carry your head high!"

"But we shall still need them for Thuillier's election to the Chamber,"
said Theodose. "Follow my advice; you have found it good so far, haven't
you? When the house is actually yours, you will have got it for almost
nothing; for you can now buy into the Three-per-cents at sixty in Madame
Thuillier's name, and thus replace nearly the whole of her fortune. Wait
only for the expiration of the time allowed to the nominal creditor
to buy it in, and have the fifteen thousand francs ready for our
scoundrels."

Brigitte did not wait; she took her whole capital with the exception
of a sum of one hundred and twenty thousand francs, and bought into
the Three-per-cents in Madame Thuillier's name to the amount of
twelve thousand francs a year, and in her own for ten thousand a year,
resolving in her own mind to choose no other kind of investment in
future. She saw her brother secure of forty thousand francs a year
besides his pension, twelve thousand a year for Madame Thuillier and
eighteen thousand a year for herself, besides the house they lived in,
the rental of which she valued at eight thousand.

"We are worth quite as much as the Minards," she remarked.

"Don't chant victory before you win it," said Theodose. "The right of
redemption doesn't expire for another week. I have attended to your
affairs, but mine have gone terribly to pieces."

"My dear child, you have friends," cried Brigitte; "if you should happen
to want five hundred francs or so, you will always find them here."

Theodose exchanged a smile with Thuillier, who hastened to carry him
off, saying:--

"Excuse my poor sister; she sees the world through a small hole. But if
you should want twenty-five thousand francs I'll lend them to you--out
of my first rents," he added.

"Thuillier," exclaimed Theodose, "the rope is round my neck. Ever
since I have been a barrister I have had notes of hand running. But say
nothing about it," added Theodose, frightened himself at having let out
the secret of his situation. "I'm in the claws of scoun