it renders such a judgment.
Clerk, call the next case."

Birotteau, clothed with the caftan of honor which the speech of the
illustrious _procureur-general_ had cast about him, stood dumb with joy
as he listened to the solemn words of the president, which betrayed the
quiverings of a heart beneath the impassibility of human justice. He was
unable to stir from his place before the bar, and seemed for a moment
nailed there, gazing at the judges with a wondering air, as though they
were angels opening to him the gates of social life. His uncle took him
by the arm and led him from the hall. Cesar had not as yet obeyed the
command of Louis XVIII., but he now mechanically fastened the ribbon of
the Legion of honor to his button-hole. In a moment he was surrounded by
his friends and borne in triumph down the great stairway to his coach.

"Where are you taking me, my friends?" he said to Joseph Lebas,
Pillerault, and Ragon.

"To your own home."

"No; it is only three o'clock. I wish to go to the Bourse, and use my
rights."

"To the Bourse!" said Pillerault to the coachman, making an expressive
sign to Joseph Lebas, for he saw symptoms in Cesar which led him to fear
he might lose his mind.

The late perfumer re-entered the Bourse leaning on the arms of the
two honored merchants, his uncle and Joseph Lebas. The news of his
rehabilitation had preceded him. The first person who saw them enter,
followed by Ragon, was du Tillet.

"Ah! my dear master," he cried, "I am delighted that you have pulled
through. I have perhaps contributed to this happy ending of your
troubles by letting that little Popinot drag a feather from my wing. I
am as glad of your happiness as if it were my own."

"You could not be otherwise," said Pillerault. "Such a thing can never
happen to you."

"What do you mean by that?" said du Tillet.

"Oh! all in good part," said Lebas, smiling at the malicious meaning of
Pillerault, who, without knowing the real truth, considered the man a
scoundrel.

Matifat caught sight of Cesar, and immediately the most noted merchants
surrounded him and gave him an _ovation boursiere_. He was overwhelmed
with flattering compliments and grasped by the hand, which roused some
jealousy and caused some remorse; for out of every hundred persons
walking about that hall fifty at least had "liquidated" their affairs.
Gigonnet and Gobseck, who were talking together in a corner, looked at
the man of commercial honor very much