housand francs, the result of her savings
for the last three years and of the constant movement of the three
hundred thousand francs,--for she never admitted the possession of more
than that known sum.

"The more you make, the less you get rich," said Gobenheim to her one
day.

"Water is so dear," she answered.

This secret hoard was increased by jewels and diamonds, which Aurelie
wore a month and then sold. When any one called her rich, Madame Schontz
replied that at the rate of interest in the Funds three hundred thousand
francs produced only twelve thousand, and she had spent as much as that
in the hardest days of her life.

XXIII. ONE OF THE DISEASES OF THE AGE

Such conduct implied a plan, and Madame Schontz had, as you may well
believe, a plan. Jealous for the last two years of Madame du Bruel, she
was consumed with the ambition to be married by church and mayor. All
social positions have their forbidden fruit, some little thing magnified
by desire until it has become the weightiest thing in life. This
ambition of course involved a second Arthur; but no espial on the part
of those about her had as yet discovered Rochefide's secret rival.
Bixiou fancied he saw the favored one in Leon de Lora; the painter saw
him in Bixiou, who had passed his fortieth year and ought to be making
himself a fate of some kind. Suspicions were also turned on Victor de
Vernisset, a poet of the school of Canalis, whose passion for Madame
Schontz was desperate; but the poet accused Stidmann, a young sculptor,
of being his fortune rival. This artist, a charming lad, worked for
jewellers, for manufacturers in bronze and silver-smiths; he longed
to be another Benvenuto Cellini. Claude Vignon, the young Comte de la
Palferine, Gobenheim, Vermanton a cynical philosopher, all frequenters
of this amusing salon, were severally suspected, and proved innocent.
No one had fathomed Madame Schontz, certainly not Rochefide, who
thought she had a penchant for the young and witty La Palferine; she
was virtuous from self-interest and was wholly bent on making a good
marriage.

Only one man of equivocal reputation was ever seen in Madame Schontz's
salon, namely Couture, who had more than once made his brother
speculators howl; but Couture had been one of Madame Schontz's earliest
friends, and she alone remained faithful to him. The false alarm of 1840
swept away the last vestige of this stock-gambler's credit; Aurelie,
seeing his run of ill-luc