is large enough to hold them all. Oh! you might rend my
heart in pieces, and every fragment would make a father's heart. If only
I could bear all your sorrows for you! ... Ah! you were so happy when
you were little and still with me...."

"We have never been happy since," said Delphine. "Where are the old days
when we slid down the sacks in the great granary?"

"That is not all, father," said Anastasie in Goriot's ear. The old man
gave a startled shudder. "The diamonds only sold for a hundred thousand
francs. Maxime is hard pressed. There are twelve thousand francs still
to pay. He has given me his word that he will be steady and give up play
in future. His love is all that I have left in the world. I have paid
such a fearful price for it that I should die if I lose him now. I have
sacrificed my fortune, my honor, my peace of mind, and my children for
him. Oh! do something, so that at the least Maxime may be at large and
live undisgraced in the world, where he will assuredly make a career for
himself. Something more than my happiness is at stake; the children have
nothing, and if he is sent to Sainte-Pelagie all his prospects will be
ruined."

"I haven't the money, Nasie. I have _nothing_--nothing left. This is
the end of everything. Yes, the world is crumbling into ruin, I am sure.
Fly! Save yourselves! Ah!--I have still my silver buckles left, and
half-a-dozen silver spoons and forks, the first I ever had in my
life. But I have nothing else except my life annuity, twelve hundred
francs..."

"Then what has become of your money in the funds?"

"I sold out, and only kept a trifle for my wants. I wanted twelve
thousand francs to furnish some rooms for Delphine."

"In your own house?" asked Mme. de Restaud, looking at her sister.

"What does it matter where they were?" asked Goriot. "The money is spent
now."

"I see how it is," said the Countess. "Rooms for M. de Rastignac. Poor
Delphine, take warning by me!"

"M. de Rastignac is incapable of ruining the woman he loves, dear."

"Thanks! Delphine. I thought you would have been kinder to me in my
troubles, but you never did love me."

"Yes, yes, she loves you, Nasie," cried Goriot; "she was saying so only
just now. We were talking about you, and she insisted that you were
beautiful, and that she herself was only pretty!"

"Pretty!" said the Countess. "She is as hard as a marble statue."

"And if I am?" cried Delphine, flushing up, "how have you treated me?
Y