"You have done well to tell me," said Madame d'Espard, eagerly. "I
have often heard of him. This Michel Chrestien was the intimate friend
of a remarkable man you have already expressed a wish to see,--Daniel
d'Arthez, who comes to my house some two or three times a year.
Chrestien, who was really killed at Saint-Merri, had no lack of
friends. I have heard it said that he was one of those born statesmen
to whom, like de Marsay, nothing is wanting but opportunity to become
all they might be."

"Then he had better be dead," said the princess, with a melancholy
air, under which she concealed her thoughts.

"Will you come to my house some evening and meet d'Arthez?" said the
marquise. "You can talk of your ghost."

"Yes, I will," replied the princess.



CHAPTER II

DANIEL D'ARTHEZ

A few days after this conversation Blondet and Rastignac, who knew
d'Arthez, promised Madame d'Espard that they would bring him to dine
with her. This promise might have proved rash had it not been for the
name of the princess, a meeting with whom was not a matter of
indifference to the great writer.

Daniel d'Arthez, one of the rare men who, in our day, unite a noble