. His father, displeased with his
son's conduct, would do nothing to help him. But his mother spared
no effort to extricate him from his difficulties. She begged a highly
placed official to plead with the insistent creditor, but all in vain.
There seemed no hope of a further delay when suddenly, in the October
of 1822, Castaing became the possessor of 100,000 francs. How he became
possessed of this considerable sum of money forms part of a strange and
mysterious story.

Among the friends of Castaing were two young men of about his own age,
Auguste and Hippolyte Ballet. Auguste, the elder, had the misfortune
a few days after his birth to incur his mother's lasting dislike. The
nurse had let the child fall from her arms in the mother's presence, and
the shock had endangered Mme. Ballet's life. From that moment the
mother took a strong aversion to her son; he was left to the charge of
servants; his meals were taken in the kitchen. As soon as he was five
years old he was put out to board elsewhere, while his brother Hippolyte
and his sister were well cared for at home. The effect of this unjust
neglect on the character of Auguste Ballet was, as may be imagined, had;
he became indolent and dissipated. His brother Hippolyte, on the other
hand, had justified the affectionate care bestowed on his upbringing; he
had grown into a studious, intelligent youth of a refined and attractive
temperament. Unhappily, early in his life he had developed consumption,
a disease he inherited from his mother. As he grew older his health grew
steadily worse until, in 1822, his friends were seriously alarmed at his
condition. It became so much graver that, in the August of that year,
the doctors recommended him to take the waters at Enghien. In September
he returned to Paris apparently much better, but on October 2 he was
seized with sudden illness, and three days later he was dead.

A few years before the death of Hippolyte his father and mother had
died almost at the same time. M. Ballet had left to each of his sons a
fortune of some 260,000 francs. Though called to the bar, both Auguste
and Hippolyte Ballet were now men of independent means. After the death
of their parents, whatever jealousy Auguste may have felt at the unfair
preference which his mother had shown for her younger son, had died
down. At the time of Hippolyte's death the brothers were on good terms,
though the more prudent Hippolyte disapproved of his elder brother's
extravaga