"Haven't we _re_-friended?" said Bixiou, pocketing the
five-hundred-franc bill and the note for four hundred and fifty. "I
give you my word of honor that you shall see du Tillet, and many other
men who want to make their way--their railway--to-night at Carabine's."

Vauvinet conducted the three friends to the landing of the staircase,
cajoling Bixiou on the way. Bixiou kept a grave face till he reached
the outer door, listening to Gazonal, who tried to enlighten him on
his late operation, and to prove to him that if Vauvinet's follower,
Cerizet, took another twenty francs out of his four hundred and fifty,
he was getting money at forty per cent.

When they reached the asphalt Bixiou frightened Gazonal by the laugh
of a Parisian hoaxer,--that cold, mute laugh, a sort of labial north
wind.

"The assignment of the contract for that railway is adjourned,
positively, by the Chamber; I heard this yesterday from that marcheuse
whom we smiled at just now. If I win five or six thousand francs at
lansquenet to-night, why should I grudge sixty-five francs for the
power to stake, hey?"

"Lansquenet is another of the thousand facets of Paris as it is," said
Leon. "And therefore, cousin, I intend to present you to-night in the
salon of a duchess,--a duchess of the rue Saint-Georges, where you
will see the aristocracy of the lorettes, and probably be able to win
your lawsuit. But it is quite impossible to present you anywhere with
that mop of Pyrenean hair; you look like a porcupine; and therefore
we'll take you close by, Place de la Bourse, to Marius, another of our