of affection incessantly given by refined women to the commonest
things. He might, perhaps, know woman; but he knew nothing of the
divinity. Why not take his rightful place in the world, and taste the
delights of Parisian society?

"Why doesn't a man who bears party per bend gules and or, a bezant and
crab counterchanged," cried Rastignac, "display that ancient
escutcheon of Picardy on the panels of a carriage? You have thirty
thousand francs a year, and the proceeds of your pen; you have
justified your motto: Ars thesaurusque virtus, that punning device our
ancestors were always seeking, and yet you never appear in the Bois de
Boulogne! We live in times when virtue ought to show itself."

"If you read your works to that species of stout Laforet, whom you
seem to fancy, I would forgive you," said Blondet. "But, my dear
fellow, you are living on dry bread, materially speaking; in the
matter of intellect you haven't even bread."

This friendly little warfare had been going on for several months
between Daniel and his friends, when Madame d'Espard asked Rastignac
and Blondet to induce d'Arthez to come and dine with her, telling them
that the Princesse de Cadignan had a great desire to see that
celebrated man. Such curiosities are to certain women what magic
lanterns are to children,--a pleasure to the eyes, but rather shallow
and full of disappointments. The more sentiments a man of talent
excites at a distance, the less he responds to them on nearer view;
the more brilliant fancy has pictured him, the duller he will seem in
reality. Consequently, disenchanted curiosity is often unjust.

Neither Blondet nor Rastignac could deceive d'Arthez; but they told