's wife in all but name. 'I connive at your errors, and you
allow me to commit crimes and ruin poor families!' Is that sufficiently
explicit? Do you know what he means by speculations? He buys up land in
his own name, then he finds men of straw to run up houses upon it. These
men make a bargain with a contractor to build the houses, paying them by
bills at long dates; then in consideration of a small sum they leave
my husband in possession of the houses, and finally slip through the
fingers of the deluded contractors by going into bankruptcy. The name of
the firm of Nucingen has been used to dazzle the poor contractors. I saw
that. I noticed, too, that Nucingen had sent bills for large amounts to
Amsterdam, London, Naples, and Vienna, in order to prove if necessary
that large sums had been paid away by the firm. How could we get
possession of those bills?"

Eugene heard a dull thud on the floor; Father Goriot must have fallen on
his knees.

"Great heavens! what have I done to you? Bound my daughter to this
scoundrel who does as he likes with her!--Oh! my child, my child!
forgive me!" cried the old man.

"Yes, if I am in the depths of despair, perhaps you are to blame," said
Delphine. "We have so little sense when we marry! What do we know of the
world, of business, or men, or life? Our fathers should think for us!
Father dear, I am not blaming you in the least, forgive me for what
I said. This is all my own fault. Nay, do not cry, papa," she said,
kissing him.

"Do not cry either, my little Delphine. Look up and let me kiss away
the tears. There! I shall find my wits and unravel this skein of your
husband's winding."

"No, let me do that; I shall be able to manage him. He is fond of me,
well and good; I shall use my influence to make him invest my money as
soon as possible in landed property in my own name. Very likely I could
get him to buy back Nucingen in Alsace in my name; that has always been
a pet idea of his. Still, come to-morrow and go through the books, and
look into the business. M. Derville knows little of mercantile matters.
No, not to-morrow though. I do not want to be upset. Mme. de Beauseant's
ball will be the day after to-morrow, and I must keep quiet, so as to
look my best and freshest, and do honor to my dear Eugene!... Come, let
us see his room."

But as she spoke a carriage stopped in the Rue Nueve-Sainte-Genevieve,
and the sound of Mme. de Restaud's voice came from the staircase. "Is my
fat