y one but himself; Massol has a
minister's portfolio in the place of a heart; Lousteau can have nothing
but viscera, since he could endure to be thrown over by Madame de
Baudraye; Monsieur le Duc is too rich to prove his love by his ruin;
Vauvinet is not in it--I do not regard a bill-broker as one of the human
race; and you have never loved, nor I, nor Jenny Cadine, nor Malaga. For
my part, I never but once even saw the phenomenon I have described. It
was," and she turned to Jenny Cadine, "that poor Baron Hulot, whom I am
going to advertise for like a lost dog, for I want to find him."

"Oh, ho!" said Carabine to herself, and looking keenly at Josepha, "then
Madame Nourrisson has two pictures by Raphael, since Josepha is playing
my hand!"

"Poor fellow," said Vauvinet, "he was a great man! Magnificent! And what
a figure, what a style, the air of Francis I.! What a volcano! and how
full of ingenious ways of getting money! He must be looking for it now,
wherever he is, and I make no doubt he extracts it even from the walls
built of bones that you may see in the suburbs of Paris near the city
gates--"

"And all that," said Bixiou, "for that little Madame Marneffe! There is
a precious hussy for you!"

"She is just going to marry my friend Crevel," said du Tillet.

"And she is madly in love with my friend Steinbock," Leon de Lora put
in.

These three phrases were like so many pistol-shots fired point-blank at
Montes. He turned white, and the shock was so painful that he rose with
difficulty.

"You are a set of blackguards!" cried he. "You have no right to speak
the name of an honest woman in the same breath with those fallen
creatures--above all, not to make it a mark for your slander!"

He was interrupted by unanimous bravos and applause. Bixiou, Leon de
Lora, Vauvinet, du Tillet, and Massol set the example, and there was a
chorus.

"Hurrah for the Emperor!" said Bixiou.

"Crown him! crown him!" cried Vauvinet.

"Three groans for such a good dog! Hurrah for Brazil!" cried Lousteau.

"So, my copper-colored Baron, it is our Valerie that you love; and you
are not disgusted?" said Leon de Lora.

"His remark is not parliamentary, but it is grand!" observed Massol.

"But, my most delightful customer," said du Tillet, "you were
recommended to me; I am your banker; your innocence reflects on my
credit."

"Yes, tell me, you are a reasonable creature----" said the Brazilian to
the banker.

"Thanks on behalf of t