ead that
respects itself a dozen bottles a year,--eighteen francs; say eighteen
thousand heads,--one hundred and eighty thousand francs. We are
millionaires!"

The nuts delivered, Raguet, the workmen, Popinot, and Cesar shelled a
sufficient quantity, and before four o'clock they had produced several
pounds of oil. Popinot carried the product to show to Vauquelin, who
made him a present of a recipe for mixing the essence of nuts with other
and less costly oleaginous substances, and scenting it. Popinot went to
work at once to take out a patent for the invention and all improvements
thereon. The devoted Gaudissart lent him the money to pay the fees, for
Popinot was ambitious to pay his share in the undertaking.

Prosperity brings with it an intoxication which inferior men are unable
to resist. Cesar's exaltation of spirit had a result not difficult to
foresee. Grindot came, and presented a colored sketch of a charming
interior view of the proposed appartement. Birotteau, seduced, agreed
to everything; and soon the house, and the heart of Constance, began to
quiver under the blows of pick and hammer. The house-painter, Monsieur
Lourdois, a very rich contractor, who had promised that nothing should
be wanting, talked of gilding the salon. On hearing that word Constance
interposed.

"Monsieur Lourdois," she said, "you have an income of thirty thousand
francs, you occupy your own house, and you can do what you like to it;
but the rest of us--"

"Madame, commerce ought to shine and not permit itself to be kept in
the shade by the aristocracy. Besides, Monsieur Birotteau is in the
government; he is before the eyes of the world--"

"Yes, but he still keeps a shop," said Constance, in the hearing of the
clerks and the five persons who were listening to her. "Neither he, nor
I, nor his friends, nor his enemies will forget that."

Birotteau rose upon the points of his toes and fell back upon his heels
several times, his hands crossed behind him.

"My wife is right," he said; "we should be modest in prosperity.
Moreover, as long as a man is in business he should be careful of
his expenses, limited in his luxury; the law itself imposes the
obligation,--he must not allow himself 'excessive expenditures.' If the
enlargement of my home and its decoration were to go beyond due limits,
it would be wrong in me to permit it; you yourself would blame me,
Lourdois. The neighborhood has its eye upon me; successful men incur
jealousy,