of the
beautiful Jewess, and only such eyes as Esther's could ever stir a man
so rotten as Nucingen. What the devil! you could not hide an ugly
woman. When this puppet has played her part, I will send her off in safe
custody to Rome or to Madrid, where she will be the rage."

"If we have her only for a short time," said Lucien, "I will go back to
her----"

"Go, my boy, amuse yourself. You will be a day older to-morrow. For my
part, I must wait for some one whom I have instructed to learn what is
going on at the Baron de Nucingen's."

"Who?"

"His valet's mistress; for, after all, we must keep ourselves informed
at every moment of what is going on in the enemy's camp."

At midnight, Paccard, Esther's tall chasseur, met Carlos on the Pont des
Arts, the most favorable spot in all Paris for saying a few words which
no one must overhear. All the time they talked the servant kept an eye
on one side, while his master looked out on the other.

"The Baron went to the Prefecture of Police this morning between four
and five," said the man, "and he boasted this evening that he should
find the woman he saw in the Bois de Vincennes--he had been promised
it----"

"We are watched!" said Carlos. "By whom?"

"They have already employed Louchard the bailiff."

"That would be child's play," replied Carlos. "We need fear nothing but
the guardians of public safety, the criminal police; and so long as that
is not set in motion, we can go on!"

"That is not all."

"What else?"

"Our chums of the hulks.--I saw Lapouraille yesterday----He has choked
off a married couple, and has bagged ten thousand five-franc pieces--in
gold."

"He will be nabbed," said Jacques Collin. "That is the Rue Boucher
crime."

"What is the order of the day?" said Paccard, with the respectful
demeanor a marshal must have assumed when taking his orders from Louis
XVIII.

"You must get out every evening at ten o'clock," replied Herrera. "Make
your way pretty briskly to the Bois de Vincennes, the Bois de Meudon,
and de Ville-d'Avray. If any one should follow you, let them do it; be
free of speech, chatty, open to a bribe. Talk about Rubempre's jealousy
and his mad passion for madame, saying that he would not on any account
have it known that he had a mistress of that kind."

"Enough.--Must I have any weapons?"

"Never!" exclaimed Carlos vehemently. "A weapon? Of what use would that
be? To get us into a scrape. Do not under any circumstances use your