d, lost, and
vilified. The creditors at the general meeting would undoubtedly show
the poor man that they respected him.

By degrees, as Birotteau's courage came back to him, Pillerault, like
a wise doctor, informed him, by gradual doses, of the transactions
resulting from his failure. These harsh tidings were like so many blows.
A merchant cannot learn without a shock the depreciation of property
which represents to him so much money, so much solicitude, so much
labor. The facts his uncle now told him petrified the poor man.

"Fifty-seven thousand francs for 'The Queen of Roses'! Why, the shop
alone cost ten thousand; the appartement cost forty thousand; the mere
outlay on the manufactories, the utensils, the frames, the boilers, cost
thirty thousand. Why! at fifty per cent abatement, if my creditors allow
me that, there would still be ten thousand francs worth of property in
the shop. Why! the Paste and the Balm are solid property,--worth as much
as a farm!"

Poor Cesar's jeremiads made no impression upon Pillerault. The old
merchant took them as a horse takes a down-pour; but he was alarmed by
the gloomy silence Birotteau maintained when it was a question of the
meeting. Those who comprehend the vanities and weaknesses which in all
social spheres beset mankind, will know what a martyrdom it was for this
poor man to enter as a bankrupt the commercial tribunal of justice
where he once sat as judge; to meet affronts where so often he had been
thanked for services rendered,--he, Birotteau, whose inflexible opinions
about bankruptcy were so well known; he who had said, "A man may be
honest till he fails, but he comes out of a meeting of his creditors
a swindler." Pillerault watched for the right moment to familiarize
Cesar's mind with the thought of appearing before his creditors as the
law demands. The thought killed him. His mute grief and resignation made
a deep impression on his uncle, who often heard him at night, through
the partition, crying out to himself, "Never! never! I will die sooner."

Pillerault, a strong man,--strong through the simplicity of his
life,--was able to understand weakness. He resolved to spare Cesar the
anguish of appearing before his creditors,--a terrible scene which the
law renders inevitable, and to which, indeed, he might succumb. On this
point the law is precise, formal, and not to be evaded. The merchant
who refused to appear would, for that act alone, be brought before
the criminal