that knew no limit,
hunger endured and love trampled under foot, fortunes risked, lost, and
recovered, life endangered time and time again, and saved, it may be, by
one of the rapid, ruthless decisions absolved by necessity. He had known
Admiral Simeuse, M. de Lally, M. de Kergarouet, M. d'Estaing, _le Bailli
de Suffren_, M. de Portenduere, Lord Cornwallis, Lord Hastings, Tippoo
Sahib's father, Tippoo Sahib himself. The bully who served Mahadaji
Sindhia, King of Delhi, and did so much to found the power of the
Mahrattas, had had dealings with Gobseck. Long residence at St. Thomas
brought him in contact with Victor Hughes and other notorious pirates.
In his quest of fortune he had left no stone unturned; witness an
attempt to discover the treasure of that tribe of savages so famous in
Buenos Ayres and its neighborhood. He had a personal knowledge of the
events of the American War of Independence. But if he spoke of the
Indies or of America, as he did very rarely with me, and never with
anyone else, he seemed to regard it as an indiscretion and to repent of
it afterwards. If humanity and sociability are in some sort a religion,
Gobseck might be ranked as an infidel; but though I set myself to study
him, I must confess, to my shame, that his real nature was impenetrable
up to the very last. I even felt doubts at times as to his sex. If all
usurers are like this one, I maintain that they belong to the neuter
gender.

"Did he adhere to his mother's religion? Did he look on Gentiles as
his legitimate prey? Had he turned Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Mahometan,
Brahmin, or what not? I never knew anything whatsoever about his
religious opinions, and so far as I could see, he was indifferent rather
than incredulous.

"One evening I went in to see this man who had turned himself to gold;
the usurer, whom his victims (his clients, as he styled them) were
wont to call Daddy Gobseck, perhaps ironically, perhaps by way of
antiphrasis. He was sitting in his armchair, motionless as a statue,
staring fixedly at the mantel-shelf, where he seemed to read the figures
of his statements. A lamp, with a pedestal that had once been green, was
burning in the room; but so far from taking color from its smoky light,
his face seemed to stand out positively paler against the background. He
pointed to a chair set for me, but not a word did he say.

"'What thoughts can this being have in his mind?' said I to myself.
'Does he know that a God exists; d