e v-v-vintage, t-t-that's my
r-r-rule. My c-c-chief interests are at Froidfond. I c-c-can't l-l-leave
my h-h-house to m-m-muddle myself with a d-d-devilish b-b-business
I kn-know n-n-nothing about. You say I ought to l-l-liquidate my
b-b-brother's af-f-fairs, to p-p-prevent the f-f-failure. I c-c-can't be
in two p-p-places at once, unless I were a little b-b-bird, and--"

"I understand," cried the notary. "Well, my old friend, you have
friends, old friends, capable of devoting themselves to your interests."

"All right!" thought Grandet, "make haste and come to the point!"

"Suppose one of them went to Paris and saw your brother Guillaume's
chief creditor and said to him--"

"One m-m-moment," interrupted the goodman, "said wh-wh-what? Something
l-l-like this. Monsieur Gr-Grandet of Saumur this, Monsieur Grandet of
Saumur that. He l-loves his b-b-brother, he loves his n-nephew. Grandet
is a g-g-good uncle; he m-m-means well. He has sold his v-v-vintage.
D-d-don't declare a f-f-failure; c-c-call a meeting; l-l-liquidate; and
then Gr-Gr-Grandet will see what he c-c-can do. B-b-better liquidate
than l-let the l-l-law st-st-stick its n-n-nose in. Hein? isn't it so?"

"Exactly so," said the president.

"B-because, don't you see, Monsieur de B-Bonfons, a man must l-l-look
b-b-before he l-leaps. If you c-c-can't, you c-c-can't. M-m-must know
all about the m-m-matter, all the resources and the debts, if you
d-d-don't want to be r-r-ruined. Hein? isn't it so?"

"Certainly," said the president. "I'm of opinion that in a few months
the debts might be bought up for a certain sum, and then paid in full
by an agreement. Ha! ha! you can coax a dog a long way if you show him a
bit of lard. If there has been no declaration of failure, and you hold
a lien on the debts, you come out of the business as white as the driven
snow."

"Sn-n-now," said Grandet, putting his hand to his ear, "wh-wh-what about
s-now?"

"But," cried the president, "do pray attend to what I am saying."

"I am at-t-tending."

"A note is merchandise,--an article of barter which rises and falls in
prices. That is a deduction from Jeremy Bentham's theory about usury.
That writer has proved that the prejudice which condemned usurers to
reprobation was mere folly."

"Whew!" ejaculated the goodman.

"Allowing that money, according to Bentham, is an article of
merchandise, and that whatever represents money is equally merchandise,"
resumed the president; "allo