stones, which are worth certainly more than the double. And you know,"
he added, with his kindly smile and in his hoarse, plebeian voice, "when
that is done there will still be more."

The whole company rose to its feet, galvanized.

"Bravo! Ah, bravo!"

"Splendid!"

"Deuced clever--deuced clever!"

"Now, that is something worth talking about."

"A man like him ought to be in the Chamber."

"He will be, _per Bacco_! I answer for it," said the governor in a
piercing voice; and in the transport of admiration, not knowing how to
express his enthusiasm, he seized the fat, hairy hand of the Nabob and
on an unreflective impulse raised it to his lips. They are demonstrative
in his country. Everybody was standing up; no one sat down again.

Jansoulet, beaming, had risen in his turn, and, throwing down his
serviette: "Let us go and have some coffee," he said.

A glad tumult immediately spread through the salons, vast apartments in
which light, decoration, sumptuousness, were represented by gold alone.
It seemed to fall from the ceiling in blinding rays, it oozed from
the walls in mouldings, sashes, framings of every kind. A little of it
remained on your hands if you moved a piece of furniture or opened a