if he had been a dissipated young man, child, he would have
carried his wine like the rest of them. His drowsiness does him credit."

There was a sound of wheels outside in the street.

"There is M. Vautrin, mamma," said the girl. "Just take M. Eugene. I
would rather not have that man see me like this; there are some ways of
looking at you that seem to sully your soul and make you feel as though
you had nothing on."

"Oh, no, you are wrong!" said Mme. Couture. "M. Vautrin is a worthy man;
he reminds me a little of my late husband, poor dear M. Couture, rough
but kind-hearted; his bark is worse than his bite."

Vautrin came in while she was speaking; he did not make a sound, but
looked for a while at the picture of the two young faces--the lamplight
falling full upon them seemed to caress them.

"Well," he remarked, folding his arms, "here is a picture! It would have
suggested some pleasing pages to Bernardin de Saint-Pierre (good
soul), who wrote _Paul et Virginie_. Youth is very charming, Mme.
Couture!--Sleep on, poor boy," he added, looking at Eugene, "luck
sometimes comes while you are sleeping.--There is something touching and
attractive to me about this young man, madame," he continued; "I know
that his nature is in harmony with his face. Just look, the head of
a cherub on an angel's shoulder! He deserves to be loved. If I were a
woman, I would die (no--not such a fool), I would live for him." He
bent lower and spoke in the widow's ear. "When I see those two together,
madame, I cannot help thinking that Providence meant them for each
other; He works by secret ways, and tries the reins and the heart," he
said in a loud voice. "And when I see you, my children, thus united by
a like purity and by all human affections, I say to myself that it is
quite impossible that the future should separate you. God is just."--He
turned to Victorine. "It seems to me," he said, "that I have seen the
line of success in your hand. Let me look at it, Mlle. Victorine; I am
well up in palmistry, and I have told fortunes many a time. Come, now,
don't be frightened. Ah! what do I see? Upon my word, you will be one of
the richest heiresses in Paris before very long. You will heap riches
on the man who loves you. Your father will want you to go and live with
him. You will marry a young and handsome man with a title, and he will
idolize you."

The heavy footsteps of the coquettish widow, who was coming down the
stairs, interrupted Vautri