uld not die before I had
wreaked my vengeance on these two Montsorels.

Vautrin (aside)
He is in trouble. (Aloud) Raoul, my son, what ails you?

Raoul
Nothing ails me. Pray leave me.

Vautrin
Do you again repulse me? You abuse the right you have to ill-treat a
friend--What are you thinking about?

Raoul
Nothing.

Vautrin
Nothing? Come, sir, do you think that he who has taught you that
English coldness, under the veil of which men of worth would conceal
their feelings, was not aware of the transparency which belongs to
this cuirass of pride? Try concealment with others, but not with me.
Dissimulation is more than a blunder, for in friendship a blunder is a
crime.

Raoul
To game no more, to come home tipsy no more, to shun the menagerie of
the opera, to become serious, to study, to desire a position in life,
this you call dissimulation.

Vautrin
You are as yet but a poor diplomatist. You will be a great one, when
you can deceive me. Raoul, you have made the mistake which I have
taken most pains to save you from. My son, why did you not take women
for what they are, creatures of inconsequence, made to enslave without
being their slave, like a sentimental shepherd? But instead, my
Lovelace has been conquered by a Clarissa. Ah, young people will
strike against these idols a great many times, before they discover
them to be hollow!

Raoul
Is this a sermon?

Vautrin
What? Do you take me, who have trained your hand to the pistol, who
have shown you how to draw the sword, have taught you not to dread the
strongest laborer of the faubourg, who have done for your brains what
I have done for your body, have set you above all men, and anointed
you my king, do you take me for a dolt? Come, now, let us have a
little more frankness.

Raoul
Do you wish me to tell you what I was thinking?--But no, that would be
to accuse my benefactor.

Vautrin
Your benefactor! You insult me. Do you think I have devoted to you my
life, my blood, shown myself ready to kill, to assassinate your enemy,
in order that I may receive that exorbitant interest called gratitude?
Have I become an usurer of this kind? There are some men who would
hang the weight of a benefit around your heart like a cannon-ball
attached to the feet of----, but let that pass! Such men I would crush
as I would a worm, without thinking that I had committed homicide! No!
I have asked you to adopt me as your father, that my heart may be to
you what heaven is to