ay
the interest and some trifling amounts of the capital borrowed.

The tradespeople were ready to offer good rents for the shops, on
condition of being granted leases for eighteen years. The dwelling
apartments rose in value by the shifting of the centre in Paris
life--henceforth transferred to the region between the Bourse and the
Madeleine, now the seat of the political power and financial authority
in Paris. The money paid to him by the Minister, added to a year's rent
in advance and the premiums paid by his tenants, would finally reduce
the outstanding debt to two hundred thousand francs. The two houses, if
entirely let, would bring in a hundred thousand francs a year. Within
two years more, during which the Hulots could live on his salaries,
added to by the Marshal's investments, Victorin would be in a splendid
position.

This was manna from heaven. Victorin could give up the first floor of
his own house to his mother, and the second to Hortense, excepting two
rooms reserved for Lisbeth. With Cousin Betty as the housekeeper, this
compound household could bear all these charges, and yet keep up a
good appearance, as beseemed a pleader of note. The great stars of the
law-courts were rapidly disappearing; and Victorin Hulot, gifted with
a shrewd tongue and strict honesty, was listened to by the Bench and
Councillors; he studied his cases thoroughly, and advanced nothing that
he could not prove. He would not hold every brief that offered; in fact,
he was a credit to the bar.

The Baroness' home in the Rue Plumet had become so odious to her, that
she allowed herself to be taken to the Rue Louis-le-Grand. Thus, by her
son's care, Adeline occupied a fine apartment; she was spared all the
daily worries of life; for Lisbeth consented to begin again, working
wonders of domestic economy, such as she had achieved for Madame
Marneffe, seeing here a way of exerting her silent vengeance on those
three noble lives, the object, each, of her hatred, which was kept
growing by the overthrow of all her hopes.

Once a month she went to see Valerie, sent, indeed, by Hortense, who
wanted news of Wenceslas, and by Celestine, who was seriously uneasy
at the acknowledged and well-known connection between her father and a
woman to whom her mother-in-law and sister-in-law owed their ruin and
their sorrows. As may be supposed, Lisbeth took advantage of this to see
Valerie as often as possible.

Thus, about twenty months passed by, du