iety, and a corresponding bill to pay. That supper led to
others. And through it all Victurnien worshiped her as an angel. Mme.
de Maufrigneuse for him was still an angel, untouched by any taint of
earth; an angel at the Varietes, where she sat out the half-obscene,
vulgar farces, which made her laugh; an angel through the cross-fire of
highly-flavored jests and scandalous anecdotes, which enlivened a stolen
frolic; a languishing angel in the latticed box at the Vaudeville;
an angel while she criticised the postures of opera dancers with the
experience of an elderly habitue of le coin de la reine; an angel at
the Porte Saint-Martin, at the little boulevard theatres, at the masked
balls, which she enjoyed like any schoolboy. She was an angel who
asked him for the love that lives by self-abnegation and heroism and
self-sacrifice; an angel who would have her lover live like an English
lord, with an income of a million francs. D'Esgrignon once exchanged a
horse because the animal's coat did not satisfy her notions. At play
she was an angel, and certainly no bourgeoise that ever lived could have
bidden d'Esgrignon "Stake for me!" in such an angelic way. She was so
divinely reckless in her folly, that a man might well have sold his
soul to the devil lest this angel should lose her taste for earthly
pleasures.

The first winter went by. The Count had drawn on M. Cardot for the
trifling sum of thirty thousand francs over and above Chesnel's
remittance. As Cardot very carefully refrained from using his right
of remonstrance, Victurnien now learned for the first time that he had
overdrawn his account. He was the more offended by an extremely polite
refusal to make any further advance, since it so happened that he had
just lost six thousand francs at play at the club, and he could not very
well show himself there until they were paid.

After growing indignant with Maitre Cardot, who had trusted him with
thirty thousand francs (Cardot had written to Chesnel, but to the fair
Duchess' favorite he made the most of his so-called confidence in him),
after all this, d'Esgrignon was obliged to ask the lawyer to tell
him how to set about raising the money, since debts of honor were in
question.

"Draw bills on your father's banker, and take them to his correspondent;
he, no doubt, will discount them for you. Then write to your family, and
tell them to remit the amount to the banker."

An inner voice seemed to suggest du Croisier's