lobster? Very likely, but
I succeed everywhere. I go out into society, I push myself forward, the
others make way before me; I brag and am believed; I incur debts which
somebody else pays! Dissipation, dear boy, is a methodical policy. The
life of a man who deliberately runs through his fortune often becomes
a business speculation; his friends, his pleasures, patrons, and
acquaintances are his capital. Suppose a merchant runs a risk of a
million, for twenty years he can neither sleep, eat, nor amuse himself,
he is brooding over his million, it makes him run about all over
Europe; he worries himself, goes to the devil in every way that man has
invented. Then comes a liquidation, such as I have seen myself, which
very often leaves him penniless and without a reputation or a friend.
The spendthrift, on the other hand, takes life as a serious game and
sees his horses run. He loses his capital, perhaps, but he stands
a chance of being nominated Receiver-General, of making a wealthy
marriage, or of an appointment of attache to a minister or ambassador;
and he has his friends left and his name, and he never wants money. He
knows the standing of everybody, and uses every one for his own benefit.
Is this logical, or am I a madman after all? Haven't you there all the
moral of the comedy that goes on every day in this world?... Your work
is completed' he went on after a pause; 'you are immensely clever! Well,
you have only arrived at my starting-point. Now, you had better look
after its success yourself; it is the surest way. You will make allies
in every clique, and secure applause beforehand. I mean to go halves in
your glory myself; I shall be the jeweler who set the diamonds in
your crown. Come here to-morrow evening, by way of a beginning. I will
introduce you to a house where all Paris goes, all OUR Paris, that
is--the Paris of exquisites, millionaires, celebrities, all the folk
who talk gold like Chrysostom. When they have taken up a book, that book
becomes the fashion; and if it is something really good for once, they
will have declared it to be a work of genius without knowing it. If
you have any sense, my dear fellow, you will ensure the success of your
"Theory," by a better understanding of the theory of success. To-morrow
evening you shall go to see that queen of the moment--the beautiful
Countess Foedora....'

"'I have never heard of her....'

"'You Hottentot!' laughed Rastignac; 'you do not know Foedora? A great
m