Pere Goriot_--and devotes all his sinister craft to his protege's
material interests. The playwright is careful to preserve some degree
of the young man's self-respect. Chance favors the two by providing
the unknown hero with worthy parents; and Vautrin's schemes
unexpectedly work out for good. As in the story of _Pere Goriot_
again, Vautrin, after furthering matrimonial deals and other
quasi-benevolent projects, ends in the clutches of the law. Of Raoul
little need be said. He is the foil for his dread protector and he is
saved from dishonor by a narrow margin. The scene is laid at Paris,
just after the second accession of the House of Bourbon, in 1816.
Titles and families are in some confusion on account of the change of
dynasties. It is therefore an opportune time for Vautrin to
manufacture scutcheons as occasion may demand. Since this story of
Vautrin is not included in the _Comedie_, it will not be found among
the biographical facts recorded in the _Repertory_.

_Les Ressources de Quinola_, a comedy in a prologue and five acts, was
presented at the Theatre de l'Odeon, Paris, March 19, 1842. Souverain
published it in an octavo volume. Balzac was disposed to complain
bitterly of the treatment this play received (note his preface), but
of it may be said, as in the case of its predecessor, that it makes
better reading than it must have made acting, for the scenes are
loosely constructed and often illogical. Our playwright yet betrays
the amateur touch. It is regrettable, too, for he chose an excellent
theme and setting. The time is near the close of the sixteenth
century, under the rule of Philip II. of Spain and the much-dreaded
Inquisition. An inventor, a pupil of Galileo, barely escapes the Holy
Office because of having discovered the secret of the steamboat.
Referring to the preface again, we find Balzac maintaining, in
apparent candor, that he had historic authority for the statement that