ing, an ornament in his house. And that very fact showed me
that the man was square at the base as well as in height," added Bixiou.
"Nucingen makes no bones about admitting that his wife is his fortune;
she is an indispensable chattel, but a wife takes a second place in the
high-pressure life of a political leader and great capitalist. He once
said in my hearing that Bonaparte had blundered like a bourgeois in his
early relations with Josephine; and that after he had had the spirit to
use her as a stepping-stone, he had made himself ridiculous by trying to
make a companion of her."

"Any man of unusual powers is bound to take Oriental views of women,"
said Blondet.

"The Baron blended the opinions of East and West in a charming Parisian
creed. He abhorred de Marsay; de Marsay was unmanageable, but with
Rastignac he was much pleased; he exploited him, though Rastignac
was not aware of it. All the burdens of married life were put on him.
Rastignac bore the brunt of Delphine's whims; he escorted her to
the Bois de Boulogne; he went with her to the play; and the little
politician and great man of to-day spent a good deal of his life at that
time in writing dainty notes. Eugene was scolded for little nothings
from the first; he was in good spirits when Delphine was cheerful, and
drooped when she felt low; he bore the weight of her confidences and her
ailments; he gave up his time, the hours of his precious youth, to fill
the empty void of that fair Parisian's idleness. Delphine and he held
high councils on the toilettes which went best together; he stood the
fire of bad temper and broadsides of pouting fits, while she, by way of
trimming the balance, was very nice to the Baron. As for the Baron, he
laughed in his sleeve; but whenever he saw that Rastignac was bending
under the strain of the burden, he made 'as if he suspected something,'
and reunited the lovers by a common dread."

"I can imagine that a wealthy wife would have put Rastignac in the
way of a living, and an honorable living, but where did he pick up
his fortune?" asked Couture. "A fortune so considerable as his at the
present day must come from somewhere; and nobody ever accused him of
inventing a good stroke of business."

"Somebody left it to him," said Finot.

"Who?" asked Blondet.

"Some fool that he came across," suggested Couture.

"He did not steal the whole of it, my little dears," said Bixiou.

"Let not your terrors rise to fever-heat,