with them—­this power is nothing without a knowledge of the world and the manners of a gentleman.  How am I to prove my claim to this sudden elevation?  I should only make myself a laughing-stock for nobles and bourgeoisie to boot.  As for you, your position is different.  A foreman is not committed to anything.  You are busy gaining knowledge that will be indispensable by and by; you can explain your present work by your future.  And, in any case, you can leave your place to-morrow and begin something else; you might study law or diplomacy, or go into civil service.  Nobody had docketed and pigeon-holed you, in fact.  Take advantage of your social maiden fame to walk alone and grasp honors.  Enjoy all pleasures gladly, even frivolous pleasures.  I wish you luck, Lucien; I shall enjoy your success; you will be like a second self for me.  Yes, in my own thoughts I shall live your life.  You shall have the holiday life, in the glare of the world and among the swift working springs of intrigue.  I will lead the work-a-day life, the tradesman’s life of sober toil, and the patient labor of scientific research.

“You shall be our aristocracy,” he went on, looking at Eve as he spoke.  “If you totter, you shall have my arm to steady you.  If you have reason to complain of the treachery of others, you will find a refuge in our hearts, the love there will never change.  And influence and favor and the goodwill of others might fail us if we were two; we should stand in each other’s way; go forward, you can tow me after you if it comes to that.  So far from envying you, I will dedicate my life to yours.  The thing that you have just done for me, when you risked the loss of your benefactress, your love it may be, rather than forsake or disown me, that little thing, so great as it was—­ah, well, Lucien, that in itself would bind me to you forever if we were not brothers already.  Have no remorse, no concern over seeming to take the larger share.  This one-sided bargain is exactly to my taste.  And, after all, suppose that you should give me a pang now and again, who knows that I shall not still be your debtor all my life long?”

He looked timidly towards Eve as he spoke; her eyes were full of tears, she saw all that lay below the surface.

“In fact,” he went on, turning to Lucien, who stood amazed at this, “you are well made, you have a graceful figure, you wear your clothes with an air, you look like a gentleman in that blue coat of yours with the yellow buttons and the plain nankeen trousers; now I should look like a workingman among those people, I should be awkward and out of my element, I should say foolish things, or say nothing at all; but as for you, you can overcome any prejudice as to names by taking your mother’s; you can call yourself Lucien de Rubempre; I am and always shall be David Sechard.  In this society that you frequent, everything tells for you, everything would tell against me.  You were born to shine in it.  Women will worship that angel face of yours; won’t they, Eve?”