That expression was neither disgust nor annoyance, it was simply joy,
appearing on a face that now seemed freed. Theodose saw the means of
success approaching him, and he flattered himself that the day would
come when he might get rid of his ignoble associates, to whom he owed
everything. Poverty has unfathomable depths, especially in Paris,
slimy bottoms, from which, when a drowned man rises to the surface of
the water, he brings with him filth and impurity clinging to his
clothes, or to his person. Cerizet, the once opulent friend and
protector of Theodose, was the muddy mire still clinging to the
Provencal, and the former manager of the joint-stock company saw very
plainly that his tool wanted to brush himself on entering a sphere
where decent clothing was a necessity.

"Well, my dear Theodose," began Thuillier, "we have hoped to see you
every day this week, and every evening we find our hopes deceived. As
this is our Sunday for a dinner, my sister and my wife have sent me
here to beg you to come to us."

"I have been so busy," said Theodose, "that I have not had two minutes
to give to any one, not even to you, whom I count among my friends,
and with whom I have wished to talk about--"

"What? have you really been thinking seriously over what you said to
me?" cried Thuillier, interrupting him.

"If you had not come here now for a full understanding, I shouldn't
respect you as I do," replied la Peyrade, smiling. "You have been a
sub-director, and therefore you must have the remains of ambition
--which is deucedly legitimate in your case! Come, now, between