side) I must rejoin my people at the Christoval house.

Joseph (aside)
Since this devil of a fellow has found me out, I have been on
tenter-hooks--

Vautrin (coming back from the door)
The duke then does not live with his wife?

Joseph
They quarreled twenty years ago.

Vautrin
What about?

Joseph
Not even their own son can say.

Vautrin
And why was your predecessor dismissed?

Joseph
I cannot say. I was not acquainted with him. They did not set up an
establishment here until after the king's second return.

Vautrin (aside)
Such are the advantages of the new social order; masters and servants
are bound together by no ties; they feel no mutual attachment,
exchange no secrets, and so give no ground for betrayal. (To Joseph)
Any spicy stories at meal-times?

Joseph
Never before the servants.

Vautrin
What is thought of them in the servants' hall?

Joseph
The duchess is considered a saint.

Vautrin
Poor woman! And the duke?

Joseph
He is an egotist.

Vautrin
Yes, a statesman. (Aside) The duke must have secrets, and we must
look into that. Every great aristocrat has some paltry passion by
which he can be led; and if I once get control of him, his son,
necessarily-- (To Joseph) What is said about the marriage of the
Marquis de Montsorel and Inez de Christoval?

Joseph
I haven't heard a word. The duchess seems to take very little interest
in it.

Vautrin
And she has only one son! That seems hardly natural.

Joseph
Between ourselves, I believe she doesn't love her son.

Vautrin
I am obliged to draw this word from your throat, as if it were the
cork in a bottle of Bordeaux. There is, I perceive, some mystery in
this house. Here is a mother, a Duchesse de Montsorel, who does not
love her son, her only son! Who is her confessor?

Joseph
She keeps her religious observances a profound secret.

Vautrin
Good--I shall soon know everything. Secrets are like young girls,
the more you conceal them, the sooner they are discovered. I will
send two of my rascals to the Church of St. Thomas Aquinas. They
won't work out their salvation in that way, but they'll work out
something else.-- Good-bye.

SCENE SIXTH.

Joseph (alone)
He is an old friend--and that is the worst nuisance in the world. He
will make me lose my place. Ah, if I were not afraid of being poisoned
like a dog by Jacques Collin, who is quite capable of the act, I would
tell all to the duke; but in this vile world, every man for him