oes he know there are such things
as feeling, woman, happiness?' I pitied him as I might have pitied a
diseased creature. But, at the same time, I knew quite well that while
he had millions of francs at his command, he possessed the world no
less in idea--that world which he had explored, ransacked, weighed,
appraised, and exploited.

"'Good day, Daddy Gobseck,' I began.

"He turned his face towards me with a slight contraction of his bushy,
black eyebrows; this characteristic shade of expression in him meant as
much as the most jubilant smile on a Southern face.

"'You look just as gloomy as you did that day when the news came of the
failure of that bookseller whose sharpness you admired so much, though
you were one of his victims.'

"'One of his victims?' he repeated, with a look of astonishment.

"'Yes. Did you not refuse to accept composition at the meeting of
creditors until he undertook privately to pay you your debt in full; and
did he not give you bills accepted by the insolvent firm; and then, when
he set up in business again, did he not pay you the dividend upon those
bills of yours, signed as they were by the bankrupt firm?'

"'He was a sharp one, but I had it out of him.'

"'Then have you some bills to protest? To-day is the 30th, I believe.'

"It was the first time I had spoken to him of money. He looked
ironically up at me; then in those bland accents, not unlike the husky
tones which the tyro draws from a flute, he answered, 'I am amusing
myself.'

"'So you amuse yourself now and again?'

"'Do you imagine that the only poets in the world are those who print
their verses?' he asked, with a pitying look and shrug of the shoulders.

"'Poetry in that head!' thought I, for as yet I knew nothing of his
life.

"'What life could be as glorious as mine?' he continued, and his eyes
lighted up. 'You are young, your mental visions are colored by youthful
blood, you see women's faces in the fire, while I see nothing but coals
in mine. You have all sorts of beliefs, while I have no beliefs at
all. Keep your illusions--if you can. Now I will show you life with
the discount taken off. Go wherever you like, or stay at home by the
fireside with your wife, there always comes a time when you settle down
in a certain groove, the groove is your preference; and then happiness
consists in the exercise of your faculties by applying them to
realities. Anything more in the way of precept is false. My principles
have