im. Can you see the man of business,
with an uneasy eye, a bald forehead, and scarcely any hair on his head,
standing in his threadbare jacket and muddy boots--"

"What a picture of a Dun!" cried Lousteau.

"--standing before the Count, that image of flaunting Debt, in his
blue flannel dressing-gown, slippers worked by some Marquise or other,
trousers of white woolen stuff, and a dazzling shirt? There he stood,
with a gorgeous cap on his black dyed hair, playing with the tassels at
his waist--"

"'Tis a bit of genre for anybody who knows what the pretty little
morning room, hung with silk and full of valuable paintings, where
Maxime breakfasts," said Nathan. "You tread on a Smyrna carpet, you
admire the sideboards filled with curiosities and rarities fit to make a
King of Saxony envious--"

"Now for the scene itself," said Desroches, and the deepest silence
followed.

"'Monsieur le Comte,' began Cerizet, 'I have come from a M. Charles
Claparon, who used to be a banker--'

"'Ah! poor devil, and what does he want with me?'

"'Well, he is at present your creditor for a matter of three thousand
two hundred francs, seventy-five centimes, principal, interest, and
costs--'

"'Coutelier's business?' put in Maxime, who knew his affairs as a pilot
knows his coast.

"'Yes, Monsieur le Comte,' said Cerizet with a bow. 'I have come to ask
your intentions.'

"'I shall only pay when the fancy takes me,' returned Maxime, and he
rang for Suzon. 'It was very rash of Claparon to buy up bills of mine
without speaking to me beforehand. I am sorry for him, for he did so
very well for such a long time as a man of straw for friends of mine. I
always said that a man must really be weak in his intellect to work for
men that stuff themselves with millions, and to serve them so faithfully
for such low wages. And now here he gives me another proof of his
stupidity! Yes, men deserve what they get. It is your own doing whether
you get a crown on your forehead or a bullet through your head; whether
you are a millionaire or a porter, justice is always done you. I
cannot help it, my dear fellow; I myself am not a king, I stick to my
principles. I have no pity for those that put me to expense or do
not know their business as creditors.--Suzon! my tea! Do you see this
gentleman?' he continued when the man came in. 'Well, you have allowed
yourself to be taken in, poor old boy. This gentleman is a creditor;
you ought to have known him by his b