mself, this ceremony is
little feared. But to a man like Cesar Birotteau it was agony only to
be compared to the last day of a criminal condemned to death. Pillerault
did all in his power to make that terrible day endurable to his nephew.

The steps taken by Molineux, and agreed to by the bankrupt, were as
follows: The suit relating to the mortgage on the property in the
Faubourg du Temple having been won in the courts, the assignees decided
to sell that property, and Cesar made no opposition. Du Tillet, hearing
privately that the government intended to cut a canal which should lead
from Saint-Denis to the upper Seine through the Faubourg du Temple,
bought the property of Birotteau for seventy thousand francs. All
Cesar's rights in the lands about the Madeleine were turned over to
Monsieur Claparon, on condition that he on his side would abandon all
claim against Birotteau for half the costs of drawing up and registering
the contracts; also for all payments on the price of the lands, by
receiving himself, under the failure, the dividend which was to be
paid over to the sellers. The interests of the perfumer in the house
of Popinot and Company were sold to the said Popinot for the sum of
forty-eight thousand francs. The business of "The Queen of Roses" was
bought by Celestin Crevel at fifty-seven thousand francs, with the
lease, the fixtures, the merchandise, furniture, and all rights in the
Paste of Sultans and the Carminative Balm, with twelve years' lease of
the manufactories, whose various appliances were also sold to him. The
assets when liquidated came to one hundred and ninety-five thousand
francs, to which the assignees added seventy thousand produced by
Birotteau's claims in the liquidation of the "unfortunate" Roguin. Thus
the total amount made over to Cesar's creditors was two hundred and
fifty-five thousand francs. The debts amounted to four hundred and forty
thousand; consequently, the creditors received more than fifty per cent
on their claims.

Bankruptcy is a species of chemical transmutation, from which a clever
merchant tries to emerge in fresh shape. Birotteau, distilled to the
last drop in this retort, gave a result which made du Tillet furious.
Du Tillet looked to see a dishonorable failure; he saw an honorable one.
Caring little for his own gains, though he was about to get
possession of the lands around the Madeleine without ever drawing his
purse-strings, he wanted to see his old master dishonore