Birotteau doing?" asked Madame Lourdois.

"She is keeping the books of Monsieur Anselme Popinot."

"Poor people!" said Madame Lourdois, in a low voice to her husband.

"If you ever need me, my dear Monsieur Birotteau, come and see me," said
Lourdois. "I might help--"

"I do need you--at eleven o'clock to-day, monsieur," said Birotteau,
retiring.

* * * * *

This first result gave courage to the poor bankrupt, but not peace of
mind. On the contrary, the thought of regaining his honor agitated his
life inordinately; he completely lost the natural color of his
cheeks, his eyes grew sunken and dim, and his face hollow. When old
acquaintances met him, in the morning at eight o'clock or in the evening
at four, as he went to and from the Rue de l'Oratoire, wearing the
surtout coat he wore at the time of his fall, and which he husbanded as
a poor sub-lieutenant husbands his uniform,--his hair entirely white,
his face pale, his manner timid,--some few would stop him in spite of
himself; for his eye was alert to avoid those he knew as he crept along
beside the walls, like a thief.

"Your conduct is known, my friend," said one; "everybody regrets the
sternness with which you treat yourself, also your wife and daughter."

"Take a little more time," said others; "the wounds of money do not
kill."

"No, but the wounds of the soul do," the poor worn Cesar answered one
day to his friend Matifat.

* * * * *

At the beginning of the year 1822, the Canal Saint-Martin was begun.
Land in the Faubourg du Temple increased enormously in value. The canal
would cut through the property which du Tillet had bought of Cesar
Birotteau. The company who obtained the right of building it agreed to
pay the banker an exorbitant sum, provided they could take possession
within a given time. The lease Cesar had granted to Popinot, which
went with the sale to du Tillet, now hindered the transfer to the
canal company. The banker came to the Rue des Cinq-Diamants to see the
druggist. If du Tillet was indifferent to Popinot, it is very certain
that the lover of Cesarine felt an instinctive hatred for du Tillet.
He knew nothing of the theft and the infamous scheme of the prosperous
banker, but an inward voice cried to him, "The man is an unpunished
rascal." Popinot would never have transacted the smallest business with
him; du Tillet's very presence was odious to his feelings. Under the
pr