knowing all that you have been saying to me. I should be forced to
tell a lie, which is difficult indeed with so sly and treacherous a
man; he would lay traps for me. But enough of my own miseries; let us
think of yours. The forty thousand francs you want would be, of
course, a mere nothing to Ferdinand, who handles millions with that
fat banker, Baron de Nucingen. Sometimes, at dinner, in my presence,
they say things to each other which make me shudder. Du Tillet knows
my discretion, and they often talk freely before me, being sure of my
silence. Well, robbery and murder on the high-road seem to me merciful
compared to some of their financial schemes. Nucingen and he no more
mind destroying a man than if he were an animal. Often I am told to
receive poor dupes whose fate I have heard them talk of the night
before,--men who rush into some business where they are certain to
lose their all. I am tempted, like Leonardo in the brigand's cave, to
cry out, 'Beware!' But if I did, what would become of me? So I keep
silence. This splendid house is a cut-throat's den! But Ferdinand and
Nucingen will lavish millions for their own caprices. Ferdinand is now
buying from the other du Tillet family the site of their old castle;
he intends to rebuild it and add a forest with large domains to the
estate, and make his son a count; he declares that by the third
generation the family will be noble. Nucingen, who is tired of his
house in the rue Saint-Lazare, is building a palace. His wife is a
friend of mine--Ah!" she cried, interrupting herself, "she might help
us; she is very bold with her husband; her fortune is in her own
right. Yes, she could save you."

"Dear heart, I have but a few hours left; let us go to her this
evening, now, instantly," said Madame de Vandenesse, throwing herself
into Madame du Tillet's arms with a burst of tears.