res; and he might even now, if he chose, be
made Attorney-General in the Court of Appeal. So, if you mean to say
that your son-in-law has no fortune----"

"Worse than that, madame, a son-in-law whom I am obliged to maintain,"
replied Crevel. "Of the five hundred thousand francs that formed my
daughter's marriage portion, two hundred thousand have vanished--God
knows how!--in paying the young gentleman's debts, in furnishing his
house splendaciously--a house costing five hundred thousand francs, and
bringing in scarcely fifteen thousand, since he occupies the larger
part of it, while he owes two hundred and sixty thousand francs of the
purchase-money. The rent he gets barely pays the interest on the debt.
I have had to give my daughter twenty thousand francs this year to
help her to make both ends meet. And then my son-in-law, who was making
thirty thousand francs a year at the Assizes, I am told, is going to
throw that up for the Chamber----"

"This, again, Monsieur Crevel, is beside the mark; we are wandering from
the point. Still, to dispose of it finally, it may be said that if my
son gets into office, if he has you made an officer of the Legion of
Honor and councillor of the municipality of Paris, you, as a retired
perfumer, will not have much to complain of----"

"Ah! there we are again, madame! Yes, I am a tradesman, a shopkeeper,
a retail dealer in almond-paste, eau-de-Portugal, and hair-oil, and was
only too much honored when my only daughter was married to the son of
Monsieur le Baron Hulot d'Ervy--my daughter will be a Baroness! This is
Regency, Louis XV., (Eil-de-boeuf--quite tip-top!--very good.) I love
Celestine as a man loves his only child--so well indeed, that, to
preserve her from having either brother or sister, I resigned myself
to all the privations of a widower--in Paris, and in the prime of life,
madame. But you must understand that, in spite of this extravagant
affection for my daughter, I do not intend to reduce my fortune for the
sake of your son, whose expenses are not wholly accounted for--in my
eyes, as an old man of business."

"Monsieur, you may at this day see in the Ministry of Commerce Monsieur
Popinot, formerly a druggist in the Rue des Lombards----"

"And a friend of mine, madame," said the ex-perfumer. "For I, Celestin
Crevel, foreman once to old Cesar Birotteau, brought up the said Cesar
Birotteau's stock; and he was Popinot's father-in-law. Why, that very
Popinot was no more th