ehind dat
carriage and a maid-shervant----"

"Lucien looks as if he knew her," exclaimed Rastignac, seeing Esther's
lover smile.

"Who doesn't know the woman who would go out at midnight to meet
Nucingen?" said Lucien, turning on his heel.

"Well, she is not a woman who is seen in society, or the Baron would
have recognized the man," said the Chevalier d'Espard.

"I have nefer seen him," replied the Baron. "And for forty days now I
have had her seeked for by de Police, and dey do not find her."

"It is better that she should cost you a few hundred francs than cost
you your life," said Desplein; "and, at your age, a passion without hope
is dangerous, you might die of it."

"Ja, ja," replied the Baron, addressing Desplein. "And vat I eat does
me no goot, de air I breade feels to choke me. I go to de forest of
Fincennes to see de place vat I see her--and dat is all my life. I could
not tink of de last loan--I trust to my partners vat haf pity on me. I
could pay one million franc to see dat voman--and I should gain by dat,
for I do nothing on de Bourse.--Ask du Tillet."

"Very true," replied du Tillet; "he hates business; he is quite unlike
himself; it is a sign of death."

"A sign of lof," replied Nucingen; "and for me, dat is all de same
ting."

The simple candor of the old man, no longer the stock-jobber, who, for
the first time in his life, saw that something was more sacred and
more precious than gold, really moved these world-hardened men; some
exchanged smiles; other looked at Nucingen with an expression that
plainly said, "Such a man to have come to this!"--And then they all
returned to the drawing-room, talking over the event.

For it was indeed an event calculated to produce the greatest sensation.
Madame de Nucingen went into fits of laughter when Lucien betrayed her
husband's secret; but the Baron, when he heard his wife's sarcasms, took
her by the arm and led her into the recess of a window.

"Motame," said he in an undertone, "have I ever laughed at all at your
passions, that you should laugh at mine? A goot frau should help her
husband out of his difficulty vidout making game of him like vat you
do."

From the description given by the old banker, Lucien had recognized his
Esther. Much annoyed that his smile should have been observed, he took
advantage of a moment when coffee was served, and the conversation
became general, to vanish from the scene.

"What has become of Monsieur de Rubempre?"