ted. The newspapers announced the return of M. le Baron de
Nucingen from a journey to Belgium; he had been arranging, it was said,
with a well-known Belgian firm to resume the working of some coal-pits
in the Bois de Bossut. The Baron himself appeared on the Bourse, and
never even took the trouble to contradict the slanders circulating
against him. He scorned to reply through the press; he simply bought a
splendid estate just outside Paris for two millions of francs. Six
weeks afterwards, the Bordeaux shipping intelligence announced that
two vessels with cargoes of bullion to the amount of seven millions,
consigned to the firm of Nucingen, were lying in the river.

"Then it was plain to Palma, Werbrust, and du Tillet that the trick had
been played. Nobody else was any the wiser. The three scholars studied
the means by which the great bubble had been created, saw that it had
been preparing for eleven months, and pronounced Nucingen the greatest
financier in Europe.

"Rastignac understood nothing of all this, but he had the four hundred
thousand francs which Nucingen had allowed him to shear from the
Parisian sheep, and he portioned his sisters. D'Aiglemont, at a hint
from his cousin Beaudenord, besought Rastignac to accept ten per cent
upon his million if he would undertake to convert it into shares in
a canal which is still to make, for Nucingen worked things with the
Government to such purpose that the concessionaires find it to their
interest not to finish their scheme. Charles Grandet implored Delphine's
lover to use his interest to secure shares for him in exchange for his
cash. And altogether Rastignac played the part of Law for ten days; he
had the prettiest duchesses in France praying to him to allot shares
to them, and to-day the young man very likely has an income of forty
thousand livres, derived in the first instance from the argentiferous
lead-mines."

"If every one was better off, who can have lost?" asked Finot.

"Hear the conclusion," rejoined Bixiou. "The Marquis d'Aiglemont and
Beaudenord (I put them forward as two examples out of many) kept their
allotted shares, enticed by the so-called dividend that fell due a few
months afterwards. They had another three per cent on their capital,
they sang Nucingen's praises, and took his part at a time when everybody
suspected that he was going bankrupt. Godefroid married his beloved
Isaure and took shares in the mines to the value of a hundred thousand
francs