“This one has no match on earth.  No. if you could but see him asking my commands, to know at what hour he may come—­to take me by surprise, of course—­and pouring out respectful speeches like a so-called gentleman, you would say, ‘Why, he adores her!’ and there is not a woman in the world who would not say the same.”

“And they envy us, my dear!” exclaimed Esther.

“Ah, well!” sighed Madame du Val-Noble; “in the course of our lives we learn more or less how little men value us.  But, my dear, I have never been so cruelly, so deeply, so utterly scorned by brutality as I am by this great skinful of port wine.

“When he is tipsy he goes away—­’not to be unpleasant,’ as he tells Adele, and not to be ‘under two powers at once,’ wine and woman.  He takes advantage of my carriage; he uses it more than I do.—­Oh! if only we could see him under the table to-night!  But he can drink ten bottles and only be fuddled; when his eyes are full, he still sees clearly.”

“Like people whose windows are dirty outside,” said Esther, “but who can see from inside what is going on in the street.—­I know that property in man.  Du Tillet has it in the highest degree.”

“Try to get du Tillet, and if he and Nucingen between them could only catch him in some of their plots, I should at least be revenged.  They would bring him to beggary!

“Oh! my dear, to have fallen into the hands of a hypocritical Protestant after that poor Falleix, who was so amusing, so good-natured, so full of chaff!  How we used to laugh!  They say all stockbrokers are stupid.  Well, he, for one, never lacked wit but once——­”

“When he left you without a sou?  That is what made you acquainted with the unpleasant side of pleasure.”

Europe, brought in by Monsieur de Nucingen, put her viperine head in at the door, and after listening to a few words whispered in her ear by her mistress, she vanished.

At half-past eleven that evening, five carriages were stationed in the Rue Saint-Georges before the famous courtesan’s door.  There was Lucien’s, who had brought Rastignac, Bixiou, and Blondet; du Tillet’s, the Baron de Nucingen’s, the Nabob’s, and Florine’s—­she was invited by du Tillet.  The closed and doubly-shuttered windows were screened by the splendid Chinese silk curtains.  Supper was to be served at one; wax-lights were blazing, the dining-room and little drawing-room displayed all their magnificence.  The party looked forward to such an orgy as only three such women and such men as these could survive.  They began by playing cards, as they had to wait about two hours.

“Do you play, milord?” asked du Tillet to Peyrade.

“I have played with O’Connell, Pitt, Fox, Canning, Lord Brougham, Lord——­”

“Say at once no end of lords,” said Bixiou.

“Lord Fitzwilliam, Lord Ellenborough, Lord Hertford, Lord——­”

Bixiou was looking at Peyrade’s shoes, and stooped down.