dead, usury, on the lowest scale, rushed in and took his place. To the
old judge, Popinot, succeeded Cerizet; and strange to say,--a fact
which it is well to study,--the effect produced, socially speaking,
was much the same. Popinot loaned money without interest, and was
willing to lose; Cerizet lost nothing, and compelled the poor to work
hard and stay virtuous. The poor adored Popinot, but they did not hate
Cerizet. Here, in this region, revolves the lowest wheel of Parisian
financiering. At the top, Nucingen & Co., the Kellers, du Tillet, and
the Mongenods; a little lower down, the Palmas, Gigonnets, and
Gobsecks; lower still, the Samonons, Chaboisseaus, and Barbets; and
lastly (after the pawn-shops) comes this king of usury, who spreads
his nets at the corners of the streets to entangle all miseries and
miss none,--Cerizet, "money lender by the little week."

The frogged frock-coat will have prepared you for the den in which
this convicted stock-broker carried on his present business.

The house was humid with saltpetre; the walls, sweating moisture, were
enamelled all over with large slabs of mould. Standing at the corner
of the rue des Postes and rue des Poules, it presented first a
ground-floor, occupied partly by a shop for the sale of the commonest
kind of wine, painted a coarse bright red, decorated with curtains of
red calico, furnished with a leaden counter, and guarded by formidable
iron bars. Above the gate of an odious alley hung a frightful lantern,
on which were the words "Night lodgings here." The outer walls were
covered with iron crossbars, showing, apparently, the insecurity of
the building, which was owned by the wine-merchant, who also inhabited
the entresol. The widow Poiret (nee Michonneau) kept furnished
lodgings on the first, second, and third floors, consisting of single
rooms for workmen and for the poorest class of students.