'll marry your daughter; give her your
uncle's gold, and I'll guarantee to you a life-interest in the house and
the dividends from the money in the Funds."

"We sha'n't run any risk?"

"None, whatever."

"Agreed, then," said the widow Cardinal, holding out her hand to her
future son-in-law. "Six thousand francs a year; hey! what a fine life
I'll have."

"With a son-in-law like me!" added Cerizet.

"I shall be a bourgeoisie of Paris!"

"Now," resumed Cerizet, after a pause, "I must study the ground. Don't
leave your uncle alone a minute; tell the Perraches that you expect a
doctor. I'll be the doctor, and when I get there you must seem not to
know me."

"Aren't you sly, you old rogue," said Madame Cardinal, with a punch on
Cerizet's stomach by way of farewell.

An hour later, Cerizet, dressed in black, disguised by a rusty wig and
an artificially painted physiognomy, arrived at the house in the rue
Honore-Chevalier in the regulation cabriolet. He asked the porter to
tell him how to find the lodging of an old beggar named Toupillier.

"Is monsieur the doctor whom Madame Cardinal expects?" asked Perrache.

Cerizet had no doubt reflected on the gravity of the affair he was
undertaking, for he avoided giving an answer to that question.

"Is this the way?" he said, turning at random to one side of the
courtyard.

"No, monsieur," replied Perrache, who then took him to the back stairs
of the house, which led up to the wretched attic occupied by the pauper.

Nothing remained for the inquisitive porter to do but to question the
driver of the cabriolet; to which employment we will leave him, while we
pursue our own inquiries elsewhere.

CHAPTER XV

THE DIFFICULTIES THAT CROP UP IN THE EASIEST OF THEFTS

The house in which Toupillier lived is one of those which have lost half
their depth, owing to the straightening of the line of the street, the
rue Honore-Chevalier being one of the narrowest in the Saint-Sulpice
quarter. The owner, forbidden by the law to repair it, or to add new
storeys, was compelled to let the wretched building in the condition
in which he bought it. It consisted of a first storey above the
ground-floor, surmounted by garrets, with two small wings running back
on either side. The courtyard thus formed ended in a garden planted with
trees, which was always rented to the occupant of the first floor. This
garden, separated by an iron railing from the courtyard, would have
allowed