"Sardanapalus!" cried Derville, flinging out his favorite invocation.
"Mademoiselle Camille will be wide awake in a moment if I say that her
happiness depended not so long ago upon Daddy Gobseck; but as the old
gentleman died at the age of ninety, M. de Restaud will soon be in
possession of a handsome fortune. This requires some explanation. As
for poor Fanny Malvaut, you know her; she is my wife."

"Poor fellow, he would admit that, with his usual frankness, with a
score of people to hear him!" said the Vicomtesse.

"I would proclaim it to the universe," said the attorney.

"Go on, drink your glass, my poor Derville. You will never be anything
but the happiest and the best of men."

"I left you in the Rue du Helder," remarked the uncle, raising his
face after a gentle doze. "You had gone to see a Countess; what have
you done with her?"



"A few days after my conversation with the old Dutchman," Derville
continued, "I sent in my thesis, and became first a licentiate in law,
and afterwards an advocate. The old miser's opinion of me went up
considerably. He consulted me (gratuitously) on all the ticklish bits
of business which he undertook when he had made quite sure how he
stood, business which would have seemed unsafe to any ordinary
practitioner. This man, over whom no one appeared to have the
slightest influence, listened to my advice with something like
respect. It is true that he always found that it turned out very well.