had suspected. Then Rastignac actually stopped on till two o'clock in
the morning. And yet there are those that call him selfish! Beaudenord
took his departure when the Baroness went to bed.

"As soon as Rastignac was left alone with Malvina, he spoke in a
fatherly, good-humored fashion. 'Dear child, please to bear in mind
that a poor fellow, heavy with sleep, has been drinking tea to keep
himself awake till two o'clock in the morning, all for a chance of
saying a solemn word of advice to you--_Marry_! Do not be too
particular; do not brood over your feelings; never mind the sordid
schemes of men that have one foot here and another in the Matifats'
house; do not stop to think at all: Marry!--When a girl marries, it
means that the man whom she marries undertakes to maintain her in a
more or less good position in life, and at any rate her comfort is
assured. I know the world. Girls, mammas, and grandmammas are all of
them hypocrites when they fly off into sentiment over a question of
marriage. Nobody really thinks of anything but a good position. If a
mother marries her daughter well, she says that she has made an
excellent bargain.' Here Rastignac unfolded his theory of marriage,
which to his way of thinking is a business arrangement, with a view to
making life tolerable; and ended up with, 'I do not ask to know your
secret, Malvina; I know it already. Men talk things over among
themselves, just as you women talk after you leave the dinner-table.
This is all I have to say: Marry. If you do not, remember that I
begged you to marry, here, in this room, this evening!'

"There was a certain ring in Rastignac's voice which compelled, not
attention, but reflection. There was something startling in his
insistence; something that went, as Rastignac meant that it should, to
the quick of Malvina's intelligence. She thought over the counsel