these speeches, Etienne made a
jest of them at Malaga's, whither he went with his father-in-law elect;
for the notary and the journalist were the best of friends.

Lousteau had already given himself the airs of a person of importance;
his life at last was to have a purpose; he was in luck's way, and in
a few days would be the owner of a delightful little house in the Rue
Saint-Lazare; he was going to be married to a charming woman, he would
have about twenty thousand francs a year, and could give the reins to
his ambition; the young lady loved him, and he would be connected with
several respectable families. In short, he was in full sail on the blue
waters of hope.

Madame Cardot had expressed a wish to see the prints for _Gil Blas_, one
of the illustrated volumes which the French publishers were at that time
bringing out, and Lousteau had taken the first numbers for the lady's
inspection. The lawyer's wife had a scheme of her own, she had borrowed
the book merely to return it; she wanted an excuse for walking in on her
future son-in-law quite unexpectedly. The sight of those bachelor rooms,
which her husband had described as charming, would tell her more, she
thought, as to Lousteau's habits of life than any information she could
pick up. Her sister-in-law, Madame Camusot, who knew nothing of the
fateful secret, was terrified at such a marriage for her niece. Monsieur
Camusot, a Councillor of the Supreme Court, old Camusot's son by his
first marriage, had given his step-mother, who was Cardot's sister, a
far from flattering account of the journalist.

Lousteau, clever as he was, did not think it strange that the wife of
a rich notary should wish to inspect a volume costing fifteen francs
before deciding on the purchase. Your clever man never condescends to
study the middle-class, who escape his ken by this want of attention;
and while he is making game of them, they are at leisure to throttle
him.

So one day early in January 1837, Madame Cardot and her daughter took
a hackney coach and went to the Rue des Martyrs to return the parts
of _Gil Blas_ to Felicie's betrothed, both delighted at the thought of
seeing Lousteau's rooms. These domiciliary visitations are not unusual
in the old citizen class. The porter at the front gate was not in; but
his daughter, on being informed by the worthy lady that she was in the
presence of Monsieur Lousteau's future mother-in-law and bride, handed
over the key of the apartment