FullReads

“Two days later the Count must see the furniture himself, and took the four thousand francs upon him. The sale had been arranged; thanks to little Croizeau’s diligence, he pushed matters on; he had ‘come round’ the widow, as he expressed it. It was Maxime’s intention to have all the furniture removed at once to a lodging in a new house in the Rue Tronchet, taken in the name of Mme. Ida Bonamy; he did not trouble himself much about the nice old man that was about to lose his thousand francs. But he had sent beforehand for several big furniture vans.

“Once again he was fascinated by the beautiful furniture which a wholesale dealer would have valued at six thousand francs. By the fireside sat the wretched owner, yellow with jaundice, his head tied up in a couple of printed handkerchiefs, and a cotton night-cap on top of them; he was huddled up in wrappings like a chandelier, exhausted, unable to speak, and altogether so knocked to pieces that the Count was obliged to transact his business with the man-servant. When he had paid down the four thousand francs, and the servant had taken the money to his master for a receipt, Maxime turned to tell the man to call up the vans to the door; but even as he spoke, a voice like a rattle sounded in his ears.

” ‘It is not worth while, Monsieur le Comte. You and I are quits; I have six hundred and thirty francs fifteen centimes to give you!’

“To his utter consternation, he saw Cerizet, emerged from his wrappings like a butterfly from the chrysalis, holding out the accursed bundle of documents.

” ‘When I was down on my luck, I learned to act on the stage,’ added Cerizet. ‘I am as good as Bouffe at old men.’

” ‘I have fallen among thieves!’ shouted Maxime.

” ‘No, Monsieur le Comte, you are in Mlle. Hortense’s house. She is a friend of old Lord Dudley’s; he keeps her hidden away here; but she has the bad taste to like your humble servant.’

” ‘If ever I longed to kill a man,’ so the Count told me afterwards, ‘it was at that moment; but what could one do? Hortense showed her pretty face, one had to laugh. To keep my dignity, I flung her the six hundred francs. “There’s for the girl,” said I.’ “

“That is Maxime all over!” cried La Palferine.

“More especially as it was little Croizeau’s money,” added Cardot the profound.

“Maxime scored a triumph,” continued Desroches, “for Hortense exclaimed, ‘Oh, if I had only known that it was you!’ “

“A pretty ‘confusion’ indeed!” put in Malaga. “You have lost, milord,” she added turning to the notary.

And in this way the cabinetmaker, to whom Malaga owed a hundred crowns, was paid.

PARIS, 1845.

ADDENDUM

The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy.

Barbet
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
The Seamy Side of History
The Middle Classes

Bixiou, Jean-Jacques
The Purse
A Bachelor’s Establishment
The Government Clerks
Modeste Mignon
Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life
The Firm of Nucingen
The Muse of the Department
Cousin Betty
The Member for Arcis
Beatrix
Gaudissart II.
The Unconscious Humorists
Cousin Pons

Cardot (Parisian notary)
The Muse of the Department
Jealousies of a Country Town
Pierre Grassou
The Middle Classes
Cousin Pons

Cerizet
Lost Illusions
Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life
The Middle Classes

Chaboisseau
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
The Government Clerks

Chocardelle, Mademoiselle
Beatrix
A Prince of Bohemia
Cousin Betty
The Member for Arcis

Claparon, Charles
A Bachelor’s Establishment
Cesar Birotteau
Melmoth Reconciled
The Firm of Nucingen
The Middle Classes

Desroches (son)
A Bachelor’s Establishment
Colonel Chabert
A Start in Life
A Woman of Thirty
The Commission in Lunacy
The Government Clerks
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life
The Firm of Nucingen
The Middle Classes