r retaliation; but I would have died rather than utter
her name. A few months of her airs and graces cost me a hundred thousand
francs and my prospects for life; but I do not think the price too
high!--And I have never murmured!--If a woman betrays the secret of her
passion, it is the supreme offering of her love, but a man!--He must be
a Lousteau!

"No, I would not give up that paper for a thousand crowns."

"Monsieur," said the lawyer at last, after an eloquent battle lasting
half an hour, "I have called on fifteen or sixteen men of letters about
this affair, and can it be that you are the only one immovable by an
appeal of honor? It is not for Etienne Lousteau that I plead, but for
a woman and child, both equally ignorant of the damage done to their
fortune, their prospects, and their honor.--Who knows, monsieur, whether
you might not some day be compelled to plead for some favor of justice
for a friend, for some person whose honor was dearer to you than
your own.--It might be remembered against you that you had been
ruthless.--Can such a man as you are hesitate?" added Monsieur de
Clagny.

"I only wished you to understand the extent of the sacrifice," replied
Nathan, giving up the letter, as he reflected on the judge's influence
and accepted this implied bargain.

When the journalist's stupid jest had been counteracted, Monsieur de
Clagny went to give him a rating in the presence of Madame Piedefer; but
he found Lousteau fuming with irritation.

"What I did monsieur, I did with a purpose!" replied Etienne. "Monsieur
de la Baudraye has sixty thousand francs a year and refuses to make his
wife an allowance; I wished to make him feel that the child is in my
power."

"Yes, monsieur, I quite suspected it," replied the lawyer. "For that
reason I readily agreed to be little Polydore's godfather, and he is
registered as the son of the Baron and Baronne de la Baudraye; if you
have the feelings of a father, you ought to rejoice in knowing that the
child is heir to one of the finest entailed estates in France."

"And pray, sir, is the mother to die of hunger?"

"Be quite easy," said the lawyer bitterly, having dragged from Lousteau
the expression of feeling he had so long been expecting. "I will
undertake to transact the matter with Monsieur de la Baudraye."

Monsieur de Clagny left the house with a chill at his heart.

Dinah, his idol, was loved for her money. Would she not, when too late,
have her eyes opened?