e Montcornet's set have taken up
the Heron's cause; and I have undertaken to reconcile Petrarch and his
Laura--Mme. de Bargeton and Lucien."

"Aha!" cried Lucien, the glow of the intoxication of revenge throbbing
full-pulsed through every vein. "Aha! so my foot is on their necks!
You make me adore my pen, worship my friends, bow down to the
fate-dispensing power of the press. I have not written a single sentence
as yet upon the Heron and the Cuttlefish-bone.--I will go with you,
my boy," he cried, catching Blondet by the waist; "yes, I will go; but
first, the couple shall feel the weight of _this_, for so light as it
is." He flourished the pen which had written the article upon Nathan.

"To-morrow," he cried, "I will hurl a couple of columns at their heads.
Then, we shall see. Don't be frightened, Coralie, it is not love but
revenge; revenge! And I will have it to the full!"

"What a man it is!" said Blondet. "If you but knew, Lucien, how rare
such explosions are in this jaded Paris, you might appreciate yourself.
You will be a precious scamp" (the actual expression was a trifle
stronger); "you are in a fair way to be a power in the land."

"He will get on," said Coralie.

"Well, he has come a good way already in six weeks."

"And if he should climb so high that he can reach a sceptre by treading
over a corpse, he shall have Coralie's body for a stepping-stone," said
the girl.

"You are a pair of lovers of the Golden Age," said Blondet.--"I
congratulate you on your big article," he added, turning to Lucien.
"There were a lot of new things in it. You are past master!"

Lousteau called with Hector Merlin and Vernou. Lucien was immensely
flattered by this attention. Felicien Vernou brought a hundred francs
for Lucien's article; it was felt that such a contributor must be well
paid to attach him to the paper.

Coralie, looking round at the chapter of journalists, ordered in a
breakfast from the _Cadran bleu_, the nearest restaurant, and asked
her visitors to adjourn to her handsomely furnished dining-room when
Berenice announced that the meal was ready. In the middle of the repast,
when the champagne had gone to all heads, the motive of the visit came
out.

"You do not mean to make an enemy of Nathan, do you?" asked Lousteau.
"Nathan is a journalist, and he has friends; he might play you an ugly
trick with your first book. You have your _Archer of Charles IX._ to
sell, have you not? We went round to Nathan this