n. He remembered Father Goriot's confidences
of the evening before; he recollected the rooms taken for him in the Rue
d'Artois, so that he might be near Delphine; and then he thought of his
letter, and read it again and kissed it.

"Such a love is my anchor of safety," he said to himself. "How the old
man's heart must have been wrung! He says nothing about all that he has
been through; but who could not guess? Well, then, I will be like a
son to him; his life shall be made happy. If she cares for me, she will
often come to spend the day with him. That grand Comtesse de Restaud is
a heartless thing; she would make her father into her hall porter. Dear
Delphine! she is kinder to the old man; she is worthy to be loved. Ah!
this evening I shall be very happy!"

He took out his watch and admired it.

"I have had nothing but success! If two people mean to love each other
for ever, they may help each other, and I can take this. Besides,
I shall succeed, and I will pay her a hundredfold. There is nothing
criminal in this _liaison_; nothing that could cause the most austere
moralist to frown. How many respectable people contract similar unions!
We deceive nobody; it is deception that makes a position humiliating.
If you lie, you lower yourself at once. She and her husband have lived
apart for a long while. Besides, how if I called upon that Alsatian to
resign a wife whom he cannot make happy?"

Rastignac's battle with himself went on for a long while; and though the
scruples of youth inevitably gained the day, an irresistible curiosity
led him, about half-past four, to return to the Maison Vauquer through
the gathering dusk.

Bianchon had given Vautrin an emetic, reserving the contents of the
stomach for chemical analysis at the hospital. Mlle. Michonneau's
officious alacrity had still further strengthened his suspicions of her.
Vautrin, moreover, had recovered so quickly that it was impossible
not to suspect some plot against the leader of all frolics at the
lodging-house. Vautrin was standing in front of the stove in the
dining-room when Rastignac came in. All the lodgers were assembled
sooner than usual by the news of young Taillefer's duel. They were
anxious to hear any detail about the affair, and to talk over the
probable change in Victorine's prospects. Father Goriot alone was
absent, but the rest were chatting. No sooner did Eugene come into the
room, than his eyes met the inscrutable gaze of Vautrin. It was the sam