ate love
which well-born and well-bred women could inspire and feel; he knew
nothing of the charming refinements of language, nothing of the proofs
of affection incessantly given by refined women to the commonest things.
He might, perhaps, know woman; but he knew nothing of the divinity.
Why not take his rightful place in the world, and taste the delights of
Parisian society?

"Why doesn't a man who bears party per bend gules and or, a bezant and
crab counterchanged," cried Rastignac, "display that ancient escutcheon
of Picardy on the panels of a carriage? You have thirty thousand francs
a year, and the proceeds of your pen; you have justified your motto:
Ars thesaurusque virtus, that punning device our ancestors were always
seeking, and yet you never appear in the Bois de Boulogne! We live in
times when virtue ought to show itself."

"If you read your works to that species of stout Laforet, whom you seem
to fancy, I would forgive you," said Blondet. "But, my dear fellow, you
are living on dry bread, materially speaking; in the matter of intellect
you haven't even bread."

This friendly little warfare had been going on for several months
between Daniel and his friends, when Madame d'Espard asked Rastignac and
Blondet to induce d'Arthez to come and dine with her, telling them that
the Princesse de Cadignan had a great desire to see that celebrated
man. Such curiosities are to certain women what magic lanterns are
to children,--a pleasure to the eyes, but rather shallow and full
of disappointments. The more sentiments a man of talent excites at
a distance, the less he responds to them on nearer view; the more
brilliant fancy has pictured him, the duller he will seem in reality.
Consequently, disenchanted curiosity is often unjust.

Neither Blondet nor Rastignac could deceive d'Arthez; but they told
him, laughing, that they now offered him a most seductive opportunity
to polish up his heart and know the supreme fascinations which love
conferred on a Parisian great lady. The princess was evidently in love
with him; he had nothing to fear but everything to gain by accepting the
interview; it was quite impossible he could descend from the pedestal on
which madame de Cadignan had placed him. Neither Blondet nor Rastignac
saw any impropriety in attributing this love to the princess; she whose
past had given rise to so many anecdotes could very well stand that
lesser calumny. Together they began to relate to d'Arthez the adv