ange blossom and scraps of wire bore witness to its recent
occupation by a wedding party.

"Where am I to drive, sir?" demanded the man, who, by this time, had
taken off his white gloves.

"Confound it!" Eugene said to himself, "I am in for it now, and at least
I will not spend cab-hire for nothing!--Drive to the Hotel Beauseant,"
he said aloud.

"Which?" asked the man, a portentous word that reduced Eugene to
confusion. This young man of fashion, species incerta, did not know that
there were two Hotels Beauseant; he was not aware how rich he was in
relations who did not care about him.

"The Vicomte de Beauseant, Rue----"

"De Grenelle," interrupted the driver, with a jerk of his head. "You
see, there are the hotels of the Marquis and Comte de Beauseant in the
Rue Saint-Dominique," he added, drawing up the step.

"I know all about that," said Eugene, severely.--"Everybody is laughing
at me to-day, it seems!" he said to himself, as he deposited his hat on
the opposite seat. "This escapade will cost me a king's ransom, but,
at any rate, I shall call on my so-called cousin in a thoroughly
aristocratic fashion. Goriot has cost me ten francs already, the old
scoundrel. My word! I will tell Mme. de Beauseant about my adventure;
perhaps it may amuse her. Doubtless she will know the secret of the
criminal relation between that handsome woman and the old rat without a
tail. It would be better to find favor in my cousin's eyes than to
come in contact with that shameless woman, who seems to me to have very
expensive tastes. Surely the beautiful Vicomtesse's personal interest
would turn the scale for me, when the mere mention of her name produces
such an effect. Let us look higher. If you set yourself to carry the
heights of heaven, you must face God."

The innumerable thoughts that surged through his brain might be summed
up in these phrases. He grew calmer, and recovered something of his
assurance as he watched the falling rain. He told himself that though
he was about to squander two of the precious five-franc pieces that
remained to him, the money was well laid out in preserving his coat,
boots, and hat; and his cabman's cry of "Gate, if you please," almost
put him in spirits. A Swiss, in scarlet and gold, appeared, the great
door groaned on its hinges, and Rastignac, with sweet satisfaction,
beheld his equipage pass under the archway and stop before the flight
of steps beneath the awning. The driver, in a blue-and-red