'that I had fallen
out with Daddy Gobseck most inopportunely; and as there is scarcely
another man in Paris who can come down on the nail with a hundred
thousand francs, at the end of the month, I begged of you to make my
peace with him. But let us say no more about it----'

"M. de Trailles looked at me with civil insult in his expression, and
made as if he would take his leave.

"'I am ready to go with you,' said I.

"When we reached the Rue de Gres, my dandy looked about him with a
circumspection and uneasiness that set me wondering. His face grew
livid, flushed, and yellow, turn and turn about, and by the time that
Gobseck's door came in sight the perspiration stood in drops on his
forehead. We were just getting out of the cabriolet, when a hackney cab
turned into the street. My companion's hawk eye detected a woman in the
depths of the vehicle. His face lighted up with a gleam of almost savage
joy; he called to a little boy who was passing, and gave him his horse
to hold. Then we went up to the old bill discounter.

"'M. Gobseck,' said I, 'I have brought one of my most intimate friends
to see you (whom I trust as I would trust the Devil,' I added for the
old man's private ear). 'To oblige me you will do your best for him (at
the ordinary rate), and pull him out of his difficulty (if it suits your
convenience).'

"M. de Trailles made his bow to Gobseck, took a seat, and listened to us
with a courtier-like attitude; its charming humility would have touched
your heart to see, but my Gobseck sits in his chair by the fireside
without moving a muscle, or changing a feature. He looked very like the
statue of Voltaire under the peristyle of the Theatre-Francais, as you
see it of an evening; he had partly risen as if to bow, and the skull
cap that covered the top of his head, and the narrow strip of sallow
forehead exhibited, completed his likeness to the man of marble.

"'I have no money to spare except for my own clients,' said he.

"'So you are cross because I may have tried in other quarters to ruin
myself?' laughed the Count.

"'Ruin yourself!' repeated Gobseck ironically.

"'Were you about to remark that it is impossible to ruin a man who has
nothing?' inquired the dandy. 'Why, I defy you to find a better _stock_
in Paris!' he cried, swinging round on his heels.

"This half-earnest buffoonery produced not the slightest effect upon
Gobseck.

"'Am I not on intimate terms with the Ronquerolles, the Marsays,