extension of twenty-five days in which to meet them. Thus pressed,
Raoul looked into his affairs and asked for the accounts, and it then
appeared that the receipts of the newspaper covered only two-thirds of
the expenses, while the subscriptions were rapidly dwindling. The
great man now grew anxious and gloomy, but to Florine only, in whom he
confided. She advised him to borrow money on unwritten plays, and
write than at once, giving a lien on his work. Nathan followed this
advice and obtained thereby twenty thousand francs, which reduced his
debt to forty thousand.

On the 10th of February the twenty-five days expired. Du Tillet, who
did not want Nathan as a rival before the electoral college, where he
meant to appear himself, instigated Gigonnet to sue Nathan without
compromise. A man locked up for debt could not present himself as a
candidate for election. Florine was herself in communication with the
sheriff on the subject of her personal debts, and no resource was left
to her but the "I" of Medea, for her new furniture and belongings were
now attached. The ambitious Raoul heard the cracking in all directions
of his prosperous edifice, built, alas! without foundations. His nerve
failed him; too weak already to sustain so vast an enterprise, he felt
himself incapable of attempting to build it up again; he was fated to
perish in its ashes. Love for the countess gave him still a few
thrills of life; his mask brightened for a moment, but behind it hope
was dead. He did not suspect the hand of du Tillet, and laid the blame
of his misfortune on the usurer. Rastignac, Blondet, Lousteau, Vernou,
Finot, and Massol took care not to enlighten him. Rastignac, who
wanted to return to power, made common cause with Nucingen and du
Tillet. The others felt a satisfaction in the catastrophe of an equal
who had attempted to make himself their master. None of them, however,
would have said a word to Florine; on the contrary, they praised Raoul