kitchen to a dining-room, or a work-room to a shop. Here
were turned inside out all matters touching the bank and commerce; here
all enterprises were sifted, and the first tithes levied, on behalf of
the bank, upon the profits of industries judged worthy of being upheld.
Here were devised those bold strokes by which short-lived monopolies
were called into being and rapidly sucked dry. Here defects of
legislation were chronicled; and bargains driven, without shame, for
what the Bourse terms "pickings to be gobbled up," commissions exacted
for the smallest services, such as lending their name to an enterprise,
and allowing it credit. Here were hatched the specious, legal plots by
which silent partnerships were taken in doubtful enterprises, that the
bank might lie in wait for the moment of success, and then crush
them and seize the property by demanding a return of the capital at a
critical moment,--an infamous trick, which involves and ruins many small
shareholders.

The two brothers had each selected his appropriate part. Upstairs,
Francois, the brilliant man of the world and of politics, assumed a
regal air, bestowed courtesies and promises, and made himself agreeable
to all. His manners were easy and complying; he looked at business
from a lofty standpoint; he intoxicated new recruits and fledgling
speculators with the wine of his favor and his fervid speech, as he made
plain to them their own ideas. Downstairs, Adolphe unsaid his brother's
words, excused him on the ground of political preoccupation, and
cleverly slipped the rake along the cloth. He played the part of the
responsible partner, the careful business man. Two words, two speeches,
two interviews, were required before an understanding could be reached
with this perfidious house. Often the gracious "yes" of the sumptuous
upper floor became a dry "no" in Adolphe's region. This obstructive
manoeuvre gave time for reflection, and often served to fool unskilful
applicants. As Cesar entered, the banker's brother was conversing with
the famous Palma, intimate adviser of the house of Keller, who retired
on the appearance of the perfumer. When Birotteau had explained his
errand, Adolphe--much the cleverest of the two brothers, a thorough
lynx, with a keen eye, thin lips, and a dry skin--cast at Birotteau,
lowering his head to look over his spectacles as he did so, a look which
we must call the banker-look,--a cross between that of a vulture and
that of an attorney;