Part 6

“Once again he was fascinated by the beautiful furniture which a wholesale dealer would have valued at six thousand francs. By the fireside sat the wretched owner, yellow with jaundice, his head tied up in a couple of printed handkerchiefs, and a cotton night-cap on top of them; he was huddled up in wrappings like a chandelier, exhausted, unable to speak, and altogether so knocked to pieces that the Count was obliged to transact his business with the man-servant. When he had paid down the four thousand francs, and the servant had taken the money to his master for a receipt, Maxime turned to tell the man to call up the vans to the door; but even as he spoke, a voice like a rattle sounded in his ears.

“‘It is not worth while, Monsieur le Comte. You and I are quits; I have six hundred and thirty francs fifteen centimes to give you!’

“To his utter consternation, he saw Cerizet, emerged from his wrappings like a butterfly from the chrysalis, holding out the accursed bundle of documents.

“‘When I was down on my luck, I learned to act on the stage,’ added Cerizet. ‘I am as good as Bouffe at old men.’

“‘I have fallen among thieves!’ shouted Maxime.

“‘No, Monsieur le Comte, you are in Mlle. Hortense’s house. She is a friend of old Lord Dudley’s; he keeps her hidden away here; but she has the bad taste to like your humble servant.’

“‘If ever I longed to kill a man,’ so the Count told me afterwards, ‘it was at that moment; but what could one do? Hortense showed her pretty face, one had to laugh. To keep my dignity, I flung her the six hundred francs. “There’s for the girl,” said I.’”

“That is Maxime all over!” cried La Palferine.

“More especially as it was little Croizeau’s money,” added Cardot the profound.

“Maxime scored a triumph,” continued Desroches, “for Hortense exclaimed, ‘Oh, if I had only known that it was you!’”

“A pretty ‘confusion’ indeed!” put in Malaga. “You have lost, milord,” she added turning to the notary.

And in this way the cabinetmaker, to whom Malaga owed a hundred crowns, was paid.

PARIS, 1845.

ADDENDUM

The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy.

Barbet A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The Seamy Side of History The Middle Classes

Bixiou, Jean-Jacques The Purse A Bachelor’s Establishment The Government Clerks Modeste Mignon Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life The Firm of Nucingen The Muse of the Department Cousin Betty The Member for Arcis Beatrix Gaudissart II. The Unconscious Humorists Cousin Pons

Cardot (Parisian notary) The Muse of the Department Jealousies of a Country Town Pierre Grassou The Middle Classes Cousin Pons

Cerizet Lost Illusions Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life The Middle Classes

Chaboisseau A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The Government Clerks

Chocardelle, Mademoiselle Beatrix A Prince of Bohemia Cousin Betty The Member for Arcis

Claparon, Charles A Bachelor’s Establishment Cesar Birotteau Melmoth Reconciled The Firm of Nucingen The Middle Classes

Desroches (son) A Bachelor’s Establishment Colonel Chabert A Start in Life A Woman of Thirty The Commission in Lunacy The Government Clerks A Distinguished Provincial at Paris Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life The Firm of Nucingen The Middle Classes

Dudley, Lord The Lily of the Valley The Thirteen Another Study of Woman A Daughter of Eve

Esgrignon, Victurnien, Comte (then Marquis d’) Jealousies of a Country Town Letters of Two Brides The Secrets of a Princess Cousin Betty

Estourny, Charles d’ Modeste Mignon Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life

Hortense The Member for Arcis

La Palferine, Comte de A Prince of Bohemia Cousin Betty Beatrix The Imaginary Mistress