y in renouncing his purpose when he discovered that Cesar, whom
he supposed to be rich, was in point of fact comparatively poor. He set
a watch on the notary, wormed himself into his confidence, was presented
to la belle Hollandaise, made a study of their relation to each other,
and soon found that she threatened to renounce her lover if he limited
her luxuries. La belle Hollandaise was one of those mad-cap women who
care nothing as to where the money comes from, or how it is obtained,
and who are capable of giving a ball with the gold obtained by a
parricide. She never thought of the morrow; for her the future was after
dinner, and the end of the month eternity, even if she had bills to pay.
Du Tillet, delighted to have found such a lever, exacted from la belle
Hollandaise a promise that she would love Roguin for thirty thousand
francs a year instead of fifty thousand,--a service which infatuated old
men seldom forget.

One evening, after a supper where the wine flowed freely, Roguin
unbosomed himself to du Tillet on the subject of his financial
difficulties. His own estate was tied up and legally settled on his
wife, and he had been led by his fatal passion to take from the funds
entrusted to him by his clients a sum which was already more than half
their amount. When the whole were gone, the unfortunate man intended to
blow out his brains, hoping to mitigate the disgrace of his conduct by
making a demand upon public pity. A fortune, rapid and secure, darted
before du Tillet's eyes like a flash of lightning in a saturnalian
night. He promptly reassured Roguin, and made him fire his pistols into
the air.

"With such risks as yours," he said, "a man of your calibre should not
behave like a fool and walk on tiptoe, but speculate--boldly."

He advised Roguin to take a large sum from the remaining trust-moneys
and give it to him, du Tillet, with permission to stake it bravely on
some large operation, either at the Bourse, or in one of the thousand
enterprises of private speculation then about to be launched. Should he
win, they were to form a banking-house, where they could turn to good
account a portion of the deposits, while the profits could be used by
Roguin for his pleasures. If luck went against them, Roguin was to get
away and live in foreign countries, and trust to _his friend_ du Tillet,
who would be faithful to him to the last sou. It was a rope thrown to a
drowning man, and Roguin did not perceive that the per