to Mlle. des
Touches' salon. And thither, accordingly, this pair of rakes betook
themselves, calculating that by that time the tragedy would have been
read; for of all things to be taken between eleven and twelve o'clock at
night, a tragedy in their opinion was the most unwholesome. They went to
keep a watch on Victurnien and to embarrass him, a piece of schoolboys's
mischief embittered by a jealous dandy's spite. But Victurnien was
gifted with that page's effrontery which is a great help to ease
of manner; and Rastignac, watching him as he made his entrance, was
surprised to see how quickly he caught the tone of the moment.

"That young d'Esgrignon will go far, will he not?" he said, addressing
his companion.

"That is as may be," returned de Marsay, "but he is in a fair way."

The Vidame introduced his young friend to one of the most amiable
and frivolous duchesses of the day, a lady whose adventures caused an
explosion five years later. Just then, however, she was in the full
blaze of her glory; she had been suspected, it is true, of equivocal
conduct; but suspicion, while it is still suspicion and not proof, marks
a woman out with the kind of distinction which slander gives to a man.
Nonentities are never slandered; they chafe because they are left in
peace. This woman was, in fact, the Duchesse de Maufrigneuse, a daughter
of the d'Uxelles; her father-in-law was still alive; she was not to
be the Princesse de Cadignan for some years to come. A friend of the
Duchesse de Langeais and the Vicomtesse de Beauseant, two glories
departed, she was likewise intimate with the Marquise d'Espard, with
whom she disputed her fragile sovereignty as queen of fashion. Great
relations lent her countenance for a long while, but the Duchesse de
Maufrigneuse was one of those women who, in some way, nobody knows how,
or why, or where, will spend the rents of all the lands of earth, and of
the moon likewise, if they were not out of reach. The general outline of
her character was scarcely known as yet; de Marsay, and de Marsay only,
really had read her. That redoubtable dandy now watched the Vidame de
Pamiers' introduction of his young friend to that lovely woman, and bent
over to say in Rastignac's ear:

"My dear fellow, he will go up _whizz_! like a rocket, and come down
like a stick," an atrociously vulgar saying which was remarkably
fulfilled.

The Duchesse de Maufrigneuse had lost her heart to Victurnien after
first giving h