believe it is well under way."

"And I think, on the contrary, that you have lost ground; and the reason
is simple: you have done those people an immense service; and that's a
thing never forgiven."

"Well, we shall see," said la Peyrade. "I have more than one hold upon
them."

"No, you are mistaken. You thought you did a brilliant thing in putting
them on a pinnacle, but the fact is you emancipated them; they'll keep
you now at heel. The human heart, particularly the bourgeois heart, is
made that way. If I were in your place I shouldn't feel so sure of being
on solid ground, and if something else turned up that offered me a good
chance--"

"What! just because I couldn't get you the lease of that house do you
want to knock everything to pieces?"

"No," said Cerizet, "I am not looking at the matter in the light of my
own interests; I don't doubt that as a trustworthy friend you have done
every imaginable thing to promote them; but I think the manner in which
you have been shoved aside a very disturbing symptom. It even decides
me to tell you something I did not intend to speak of; because, in my
opinion, when persons start a course they ought to keep on steadily,
looking neither forward nor back, and not allowing themselves to be
diverted to other aspirations."

"Ah ca!" cried la Peyrade, "what does all this verbiage mean? Have you
anything to propose to me? What's the price of it?"

"My dear Theodose," said Cerizet, paying no attention to the
impertinence, "you yourself can judge of the value of discovering a
young girl, well brought-up, adorned with beauty and talents and a 'dot'
equal to that of Celeste, which she has in her own right, _plus_ fifty
thousand francs' worth of diamonds (as Mademoiselle Georges says on her
posters in the provinces), and, moreover,--a fact which ought to strike
the mind of an ambitious man,--a strong political influence, which she
can use for a husband."

"And this treasure you hold in your hand?" said la Peyrade, in a tone of
incredulity.

"Better still, I am authorized to offer it to you; in fact, I might say
that I am charged to do so."

"My friend, you are poking fun at me; unless, indeed, this phoenix has
some hideous or prohibitory defect."

"Well, I'll admit," said Cerizet, "that there is a slight objection,
not on the score of family, for, to tell the truth, the young woman has
none--"

"Ah!" said la Peyrade, "a natural child--Well, what next?"

"Next, she is not