them. The usual
heterogeneous first-night elements filled the boxes--journalists and
their mistresses, _lorettes_ and their lovers, a sprinkling of the
determined playgoers who never miss a first night if they can help it,
and a very few people of fashion who care for this sort of sensation.
The first box was occupied by the head of a department, to whom
du Bruel, maker of vaudevilles, owed a snug little sinecure in the
Treasury.

Lucien had gone from surprise to surprise since the dinner at
Flicoteaux's. For two months Literature had meant a life of poverty and
want; in Lousteau's room he had seen it at its cynical worst; in the
Wooden Galleries he had met Literature abject and Literature insolent.
The sharp contrasts of heights and depths; of compromise with
conscience; of supreme power and want of principle; of treachery and
pleasure; of mental elevation and bondage--all this made his head swim,
he seemed to be watching some strange unheard-of drama.

Finot was talking with the manager. "Do you think du Bruel's piece will
pay?" he asked.

"Du Bruel has tried to do something in Beaumarchais' style. Boulevard
audiences don't care for that kind of thing; they like harrowing
sensations; wit is not much appreciated here. Everything depends on
Florine and Coralie to-night; they are bewitchingly pretty and graceful,
wear very short skirts, and dance a Spanish dance, and possibly they
may carry off the piece with the public. The whole affair is a gambling
speculation. A few clever notices in the papers, and I may make a
hundred thousand crowns, if the play takes."

"Oh! come, it will only be a moderate success, I can see," said Finot.

"Three of the theatres have got up a plot," continued the manager; "they
will even hiss the piece, but I have made arrangements to defeat their
kind intentions. I have squared the men in their pay; they will make a
muddle of it. A couple of city men yonder have taken a hundred tickets
apiece to secure a triumph for Florine and Coralie, and given them to
acquaintances able and ready to act as chuckers out. The fellows, having
been paid twice, will go quietly, and a scene of that sort always makes
a good impression on the house."

"Two hundred tickets! What invaluable men!" exclaimed Finot.

"Yes. With two more actresses as handsomely kept as Florine and Coralie,
I should make something out of the business."

For the past two hours the word money had been sounding in Lucien's ears
as