y hour. Honor was to Cesar a corpse, for which an Easter morning
might yet dawn. This hope kept his sorrow incessantly active. Pillerault
took upon himself the duty of preparing his nephew to receive the good
news; and when Birotteau came in he was thinking over the best means
of accomplishing his purpose. Cesar's joy as he related the proof of
interest which the king had bestowed upon him seemed of good augury, and
the astonishment he expressed at seeing Cesarine at "The Queen of Roses"
afforded, Pillerault thought, an excellent opening.

"Well, Cesar," said the old man, "do you know what is at the bottom
of it?--the hurry Popinot is in to marry Cesarine. He cannot wait any
longer; and you ought not, for the sake of your exaggerated ideas of
honor, to make him pass his youth eating dry bread with the fumes of
a good dinner under his nose. Popinot wishes to lend you the amount
necessary to pay your creditors in full."

"Then he would buy his wife," said Birotteau.

"Is it not honorable to reinstate his father-in-law?"

"There would be ground for contention; besides--"

"Besides," exclaimed Pillerault, pretending anger, "you may have the
right to immolate yourself if you choose, but you have no right to
immolate your daughter."

A vehement discussion ensued, which Pillerault designedly excited.

"Hey! if Popinot lent you nothing," cried Pillerault, "if he had called
you his partner, if he had considered the price which he paid to the
creditors for your share in the Oil as an advance upon the profits, so
as not to strip you of everything--"

"I should have seemed to rob my creditors in collusion with him."

Pillerault feigned to be defeated by this argument. He knew the human
heart well enough to be certain that during the night Cesar would go
over the question in his own mind, and the mental discussion would
accustom him to the idea of his complete vindication.

"But how came my wife and daughter to be in our old appartement?" asked
Birotteau, while they were dining.

"Anselme wants to hire it, and live there with Cesarine. Your wife is
on his side. They have had the banns published without saying anything
about it, so as to force you to consent. Popinot says there will be much
less merit in marrying Cesarine after you are reinstated. You take six
thousand francs from the king, and you won't accept anything from your
relations! I can well afford to give you a receipt in full for all that
is owing to me; do yo