the elder was tall and dark-haired, Isaure was short and fair, and her
features were finely and delicately cut, while her sister's were
vigorous and striking. Isaure was one of those women who reign like
queens through their weakness, such a woman as a schoolboy would feel
it incumbent upon him to protect; Malvina was the _Andalouse_ of
Musset's poem. As the sisters stood together, Isaure looked like a
miniature beside a portrait in oils.

"'She is rich!' exclaimed Godefroid, going back to Rastignac in the
ballroom.

"'Who?'

"'That young lady.'

"'Oh, Isaure d'Aldrigger? Why, yes. The mother is a widow; Nucingen
was once a clerk in her husband's bank at Strasbourg. Do you want to
see them again? Just turn off a compliment for Mme. de Restaud; she is
giving a ball the day after to-morrow; the Baroness d'Aldrigger and
her two daughters will be there. You will have an invitation.'

"For three days Godefroid beheld Isaure in the camera obscura of his
brain--_his_ Isaure with her white camellias and the little ways she had
with her head--saw her as you see the bright thing on which you have
been gazing after your eyes are shut, a picture grown somewhat
smaller; a radiant, brightly-colored vision flashing out of a vortex
of darkness."

"Bixiou, you are dropping into phenomena, block us out our pictures,"
put in Couture.