last strong symptoms that something more tangible was flying through
the air in the direction of his head, Marshal was glad to drive on. He
never again repeated the experiment.

Two sober, quiet, and philosophic men of letters, M. de la Motte
and the Abbe Terrason, congratulated each other, that they, at least,
were free from this strange infatuation. A few days afterwards, as the
worthy Abbe was coming out of the Hotel de Soissons, whither he had
gone to buy shares in the Mississippi, whom should he see but his
friend La Motte entering for the same purpose. "Ha!" said the Abbe,
smiling, "is that you?" "Yes," said La Motte, pushing past him as fast
as he was able; "and can that be you?" The next time the two scholars
met, they talked of philosophy, of science, and of religion, but
neither had courage for a long time to breathe one syllable about the
Mississippi. At last, when it was mentioned, they agreed that a man
ought never to swear against his doing any one thing, and that there
was no sort of extravagance of which even a wise man was not capable.

During this time, Law, the new Plutus, had become all at once the
most important personage of the state. The ante-chambers of the Regent
were forsaken by the courtiers. Peers, judges, and bishops thronged to
the Hotel de Soissons; officers of the army and navy, ladies of title
and fashion, and every one to whom hereditary rank or public employ
gave a claim to precedence, were to be found waiting in his
ante-chambers to beg for a portion of his India stock. Law was so
pestered that he was unable to see one-tenth part of the applicants,
and every manoeuvre that ingenuity could suggest was employed to gain
access to him. Peers, whose dignity would have been outraged if the
Regent had made them wait half an hour for an interview, were content
to wait six hours for the chance of seeing Monsieur Law. Enormous fees