ecipher, while suspecting a dark plot to the story.

After three bold attempts on the house in the Rue Taitbout, Contenson
still met with absolute dumbness. So long as Esther dwelt there the
lodge porter seemed to live in mortal terror. Asie had, perhaps,
promised poisoned meat-balls to all the family in the event of any
indiscretion.

On the day after Esther's removal, Contenson found this man rather
more amenable; he regretted the lady, he said, who had fed him with the
broken dishes from her table. Contenson, disguised as a broker, tried to
bargain for the rooms, and listened to the porter's lamentations while
he fooled him, casting a doubt on all the man said by a questioning
"Really?"

"Yes, monsieur, the lady lived here for five years without ever going
out, and more by token, her lover, desperately jealous though she was
beyond reproach, took the greatest precautions when he came in or went
out. And a very handsome young man he was too!"

Lucien was at this time still staying with his sister, Madame Sechard;
but as soon as he returned, Contenson sent the porter to the Quai
Malaquais to ask Monsieur de Rubempre whether he were willing to part
with the furniture left in the rooms lately occupied by Madame van
Bogseck. The porter then recognized Lucien as the young widow's
mysterious lover, and this was all that Contenson wanted. The deep but
suppressed astonishment may be imagined with which Lucien and Carlos
received the porter, whom they affected to regard as a madman; they
tried to upset his convictions.

Within twenty-four hours Carlos had organized a force which detected
Contenson red-handed in the act of espionage. Contenson, disguised as a
market-porter, had twice already brought home the provisions purchased
in the morning by Asie, and had twice got into the little mansion in the
Rue Saint-Georges. Corentin, on his part, was making a stir; but he was
stopped short by recognizing the certain identity of Carlos Herrera; for
he learned at once that this Abbe, the secret envoy of Ferdinand VII.,
had come to Paris towards the end of 1823. Still, Corentin thought it
worth while to study the reasons which had led the Spaniard to take an
interest in Lucien de Rubempre. It was soon clear to him, beyond
doubt, that Esther had for five years been Lucien's mistress; so the
substitution of the Englishwoman had been effected for the advantage of
that young dandy.

Now Lucien had no means; he was rejected as a suit