of bankers, had become the usual meeting-place of the greatest lords as
well as of discreet burgesses. It had been found necessary to close the
two ends of the street with gates, open from six A. M. to nine P. M.;
every house harbored business agents by the hundred; the smallest room
was let for its weight in gold. The workmen who made the paper for the
bank-notes could not keep up with the consumption. The most modest
fortunes suddenly became colossal, lacqueys of yesterday were
millionaires to-morrow; extravagance followed the progress of this
outburst of riches, and the price of provisions followed the progress of
extravagance. Enthusiasm was at its height in favor of the able author
of so many benefits. Law became a convert to Catholicism, and was made
comptroller-general; all the court was at his feet. "My son was looking
for a duchess to escort my granddaughter to Genoa," writes Madame, the
Regent's mother. "'Send and choose one at Madame Law's,' said I; 'you
will find them all sitting in her drawing-room.'" Law's triumph was
complete; the hour of his fall was about to strike.

At the pinnacle of his power and success the new comptroller-general fell
into no illusion as to the danger of the position. "He had been forced
to raise seven stories on foundations which he had laid for only three,"
said a contemporary, as clear-sighted as impartial. Some large
shareholders were already beginning to quietly realize their profits.
The warrants of the _Compagnie des Indes_ had been assimilated to the
bank-notes; and the enormous quantity of paper tended to lower its value.
First, there was a prohibition against making payments in silver above
ten francs, and in gold above three hundred. Soon afterwards money was
dislegalized as a tender, and orders were issued to take every kind to
the Bank on pain of confiscation, half to go to the informer. Informing
became a horrible trade; a son denounced his father. The Regent openly
violated law, and had this miscreant punished. The prince one day saw