her lips shed smiles; she gives the
spirit of the occasion to every little thing; her chatter twinkles with
bright sayings, she has the secret of the quaintest onomatopoeia, full
of color, and giving color; she----"

"You are wasting five francs' worth of copy," said Bixiou, interrupting
Lousteau. "La Torpille is something far better than all that; you have
all been in love with her more or less, not one of you can say that
she ever was his mistress. She can always command you; you will
never command her. You may force your way in and ask her to do you a
service----"

"Oh, she is more generous than a brigand chief who knows his business,
and more devoted than the best of school-fellows," said Blondet. "You
may trust her with your purse or your secrets. But what made me choose
her as queen is her Bourbon-like indifference for a fallen favorite."

"She, like her mother, is much too dear," said des Lupeaulx. "The
handsome Dutch woman would have swallowed up the income of the
Archbishop of Toledo; she ate two notaries out of house and home----"

"And kept Maxime de Trailles when he was a court page," said Bixiou.

"La Torpille is too dear, as Raphael was, or Careme, or Taglioni, or
Lawrence, or Boule, or any artist of genius is too dear," said Blondet.

"Esther never looked so thoroughly a lady," said Rastignac, pointing to
the masked figure to whom Lucien had given his arm. "I will bet on its
being Madame de Serizy."

"Not a doubt of it," cried du Chatelet, "and Monsieur du Rubempre's
fortune is accounted for."

"Ah, the Church knows how to choose its Levites; what a sweet
ambassador's secretary he will make!" remarked des Lupeaulx.

"All the more so," Rastignac went on, "because Lucien is a really clever
fellow. These gentlemen have had proof of it more than once," and he
turned to Blondet, Finot, and Lousteau.

"Yes, the boy is cut out of the right stuff to get on," said Lousteau,
who was dying of jealousy. "And particularly because he has what we call
independent ideas..."

"It is you who trained him," said Vernou.

"Well," replied Bixiou, looking at des Lupeaulx, "I trust to the memory
of Monsieur the Secretary-General and Master of Appeals--that mask is La
Torpille, and I will stand a supper on it."

"I will hold the stakes," said du Chatelet, curious to know the truth.

"Come, des Lupeaulx," said Finot, "try to identify your rat's ears."

"There is no need for committing the crime of treason against