dent of a railway from Paris to Lyons, or Paris to Dijon, or
from Montereau to Troyes."

"That's true," said Antonin. "You have it. There's nothing but
speculation that is welcomed everywhere."

"Yes, just see how great names, great families, the old and the new
peerage are rushing hot-foot into enterprises and partnerships," said
Achille Pigoult.

"Francs attract the Franks," remarked Olivier Vinet, without a smile.

"You are not an _olive_-branch of peace," said Madame Mollot, laughing.

"But is it not demoralizing to see such names as Verneuil, Maufrigneuse,
and Herouville side by side with those of du Tillet and Nucingen in the
Bourse speculations?"

"Our great Unknown is undoubtedly an embryo railway," said Olivier
Vinet.

"Well, to-morrow all Arcis will be upside-down about it," said Achille
Pigoult. "I shall call upon the Unknown and ask him to make me notary of
the affair. There'll be two thousand deeds to draw, at the least."

"Our romance is turning into a locomotive," said Ernestine to Cecile.

"A count with a railway is all the more marriageable," remarked Achille
Pigoult. "But who knows whether he is a bachelor?"

"Oh! I shall know that to-morrow from grandpapa," cried Cecile, with
pretended enthusiasm.

"What a jest!" said Madame Mollot. "You can't really mean, my little
Cecile, that you are thinking of that stranger?"

"But the husband is always the stranger," interposed Olivier Vinet,
making a sign to Mademoiselle Beauvisage which she fully understood.

"Why shouldn't I think of him?" asked Cecile; "that isn't compromising.
Besides, he is, so these gentlemen say, either some great speculator, or
some great seigneur, and either would suit me. I love Paris; and I want
a house, a carriage, an opera-box, etc., in Paris."

"That's right," said Vinet. "When people dream, they needn't refuse
themselves anything. If I had the pleasure of being your brother I
should marry you to the young Marquis de Cinq-Cygne, who seems to me a
lively young scamp who will make the money dance, and will laugh at his
mother's prejudices against the actors in the famous Simeuse melodrama."

"It would be easier for you to make yourself prime-minister,"
said Madame Marion. "There will never be any alliance between the
granddaughter of Grevin and the Cinq-Cygnes."

"Romeo came within an ace of marrying Juliet," remarked Achille Pigoult,
"and Mademoiselle is more beautiful than--"

"Oh! if you are going to quote ope