“Then I will show them the letter.”

“They will say that it is a fraud.”

“My God! my God!” cried Birotteau.  “I once thought thus of poor, unhappy people who were doubtless as I am now.”

Terribly anxious about Cesar’s state, mother and daughter sat plying their needles by his side, in profound silence.  At two in the morning Popinot gently opened the door of the salon and made a sign to Madame Cesar to come down.  On seeing his niece Pillerault took off his spectacles.

“My child, there is hope,” he said; “all is not lost.  But your husband could not bear the uncertainty of the negotiations which Anselme and I are about to undertake.  Don’t leave your shop to-morrow, and take the addresses of all the bills; we have till four o’clock in the afternoon of the 15th.  Here is my plan:  Neither Ragon nor I am to be considered.  Suppose that your hundred thousand francs deposited with Roguin had been remitted to the purchasers, you would not have them then any more than you have them now.  The hundred and forty thousand francs for which notes were given to Claparon, and which must be paid in any state of the case, are what you have to meet.  Therefore it is not Roguin’s bankruptcy which as ruined you.  I find, to meet your obligations, forty thousand francs which you can, sooner or later, borrow on your property in the Faubourg du Temple, and sixty thousand for your share in the house of Popinot.  Thus you can make a struggle, for later you may borrow on the lands about the Madeleine.  If your chief creditor agrees to help you, I shall not consider my interests; I shall sell out my Funds and live on dry bread; Popinot will get along between life and death, and as for you, you will be at the mercy of the smallest commercial mischance; but Cephalic Oil will undoubtedly make great returns.  Popinot and I have consulted together; we will stand by you in this struggle.  Ah!  I shall eat my dry bread gaily if I see daylight breaking on the horizon.  But everything depends on Gigonnet, who holds the notes, and the associates of Claparon.  Popinot and I are going to see Gigonnet between seven and eight o’clock in the morning, and then we shall know what their intentions are.”

Constance, wholly overcome, threw herself into her uncle’s arms, voiceless except through tears and sobs.

Neither Popinot nor Pillerault knew or could know that Bidault, called Gigonnet, and Claparon were du Tillet under two shapes; and that du Tillet was resolved to read in the “Journal des Petites Affiches” this terrible article:—­

“Judgment of the Court of Commerce, which declares the Sieur Cesar Birotteau, merchant-perfumer, living in Paris, Rue Saint-Honore, no. 397, insolvent, and appoints the preliminary examination on the 17th of January, 1819.  Commissioner, Monsieur Gobenheim-Keller.  Agent, Monsieur Molineux.”

Anselme and Pillerault examined Cesar’s affairs until daylight.  At eight o’clock in the morning the two brave friends,—­one an old soldier, the other a young recruit, who had never known, except by hearsay, the terrible anguish of those who commonly went up the staircase of Bidault called Gigonnet,—­wended their way, without a word to each other, towards the Rue Grenetat.  Both were suffering; from time to time Pillerault passed his hand across his brow.