sets of fine
table-linen, and weapons of price; but none of the things were docketed.
I opened a book which seemed to be misplaced, and found a thousand-franc
note in it. I promised myself that I would go through everything
thoroughly; I would try the ceilings, and floors, and walls, and
cornices to discover all the gold, hoarded with such passionate greed
by a Dutch miser worthy of a Rembrandt's brush. In all the course of
my professional career I have never seen such impressive signs of the
eccentricity of avarice.

"I went back to his room, and found an explanation of this chaos
and accumulation of riches in a pile of letters lying under the
paper-weights on his desk--Gobseck's correspondence with the various
dealers to whom doubtless he usually sold his presents. These persons
had, perhaps, fallen victims to Gobseck's cleverness, or Gobseck may
have wanted fancy prices for his goods; at any rate, every bargain hung
in suspense. He had not disposed of the eatables to Chevet, because
Chevet would only take them of him at a loss of thirty per cent. Gobseck
haggled for a few francs between the prices, and while they wrangled the
goods became unsalable. Again, Gobseck had refused free delivery of
his silver-plate, and declined to guarantee the weights of his coffees.
There had been a dispute over each article, the first indication in
Gobseck of the childishness and incomprehensible obstinacy of age, a
condition of mind reached at last by all men in whom a strong passion
survives the intellect.

"I said to myself, as he had said, 'To whom will all these riches go?'
... And then I think of the grotesque information he gave me as to the
present address of his heiress, I foresee that it will be my duty
to search all the houses of ill-fame in Paris to pour out an immense
fortune on some worthless jade. But, in the first place, know this--that
in a few days time Ernest de Restaud will come into a fortune to which
his title is unquestionable, a fortune which will put him in a position
to marry Mlle. Camille, even after adequate provision has been made for
his mother the Comtesse de Restaud and his sister and brother."

ADDENDUM

The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy.

Bidault (known as Gigonnet)
The Government Clerks
The Vendetta
Cesar Birotteau
The Firm of Nucingen
A Daughter of Eve

Derville
A Start in Life
The Gondrevi