eech, the critical position in which Lucien
found himself, his connection with the Hotel Grandlieu, his splendid
prospects if he should succeed; and finally, how necessary it was that
Esther should sacrifice herself to secure him this triumphant future.

"What must I do?" cried she, with the eagerness of a fanatic.

"Obey me blindly," said Carlos. "And what have you to complain of? It
rests with you to achieve a happy lot. You may be what Tullia is, what
your old friends Florine, Mariette, and la Val-Noble are--the mistress
of a rich man whom you need not love. When once our business is settled,
your lover is rich enough to make you happy."

"Happy!" said she, raising her eyes to heaven.

"You have lived in Paradise for four years," said he. "Can you not live
on such memories?"

"I will obey you," said she, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye.
"For the rest, do not worry yourself. You have said it; my love is a
mortal disease."

"That is not enough," said Carlos; "you must preserve your looks. At a
little past two-and-twenty you are in the prime of your beauty, thanks
to your past happiness. And, above all, be the 'Torpille' again. Be
roguish, extravagant, cunning, merciless to the millionaire I put in
your power. Listen to me! That man is a robber on a grand scale; he has
been ruthless to many persons; he has grown fat on the fortunes of the
widow and the orphan; you will avenge them!

"Asie is coming to fetch you in a hackney coach, and you will be in
Paris this evening. If you allow any one to suspect your connection with
Lucien, you may as well blow his brains out at once. You will be
asked where you have been for so long. You must say that you have been
traveling with a desperately jealous Englishman.--You used to have wit
enough to humbug people. Find such wit again now."

Have you ever seen a gorgeous kite, the giant butterfly of childhood,
twinkling with gilding, and soaring to the sky? The children forget the
string that holds it, some passer-by cuts it, the gaudy toy turns head
over heels, as the boys say, and falls with terrific rapidity. Such was
Esther as she listened to Carlos.

WHAT LOVE COSTS AN OLD MAN

For a whole week Nucingen went almost every day to the shop in the Rue
Nueve-Saint-Marc to bargain for the woman he was in love with. Here,
sometimes under the name of Saint-Esteve, sometimes under that of her
tool, Madame Nourrisson, Asie sat enthroned among bea