h he had left Melmotte's employment when he found that his
name had been forged, had now returned to the service of the daughter
in some undefined position, and had been engaged to go with her and
Madame Melmotte to New York.

'Ah; yees,' said Croll, 'but bigger. He vas passionate, and did lose
his 'ead; and vas blow'd up vid bigness.' Whereupon Croll made an
action as though he were a frog swelling himself to the dimensions of
an ox. ''E bursted himself, Mr Fisker. 'E vas a great man; but the
greater he grew he vas always less and less vise. 'E ate so much that
he became too fat to see to eat his vittels.' It was thus that Herr
Croll analysed the character of his late master. 'But Ma'me'selle,--
ah, she is different. She vill never eat too moch, but vill see to eat
alvays.' Thus too he analysed the character of his young mistress.

At first things did not arrange themselves pleasantly between Madame
Melmotte and Marie. The reader will perhaps remember that they were in
no way connected by blood. Madame Melmotte was not Marie's mother,
nor, in the eye of the law, could Marie claim Melmotte as her father.
She was alone in the world, absolutely without a relation, not knowing
even what had been her mother's name,--not even knowing what was her
father's true name, as in the various biographies of the great man
which were, as a matter of course, published within a fortnight of his
death, various accounts were given as to his birth, parentage, and
early history. The general opinion seemed to be that his father had
been a noted coiner in New York,--an Irishman of the name of Melmody,--
and, in one memoir, the probability of the descent was argued from
Melmotte's skill in forgery. But Marie, though she was thus isolated,
and now altogether separated from the lords and duchesses who a few
weeks since had been interested in her career, was the undoubted owner
of the money,--a fact which was beyond the comprehension of Madame
Melmotte. She could understand,--and was delighted to understand,--that
a very large sum of money had been saved from the wreck, and that she
might therefore look forward to prosperous tranquillity for the rest
of her life. Though she never acknowledged so much to herself, she
soon learned to regard the removal of her husband as the end of her
troubles. But she could not comprehend why Marie should claim all the
money as her own. She declared herself to be quite willing to divide
the spoil,--and suggested s