fatter for it; he is as thin and dried up as the cuckoo in the clock.'

"At length, last Monday, Gobseck sent his pensioner for me. The man
came up to my private office.

"'Be quick and come, M. Derville,' said he, 'the governor is just
going to hand in his checks; he has grown as yellow as a lemon; he is
fidgeting to speak with you; death has fair hold of him; the rattle is
working in his throat.'

"When I entered Gobseck's room, I found the dying man kneeling before
the grate. If there was no fire on the hearth, there was at any rate a
monstrous heap of ashes. He had dragged himself out of bed, but his
strength had failed him, and he could neither go back nor find the
voice to complain.

"'You felt cold, old friend,' I said, as I helped him back to his
bed; 'how can you do without a fire?'

"'I am not cold at all,' he said. 'No fire here! no fire! I am going,
I know not where, lad,' he went on, glancing at me with blank,
lightless eyes, 'but I am going away from this.--I have _carpology_,'
said he (the use of the technical term showing how clear and accurate
his mental processes were even now). 'I thought the room was full of
live gold, and I got up to catch some of it.--To whom will all mine
go, I wonder? Not to the crown; I have left a will, look for it,
Grotius. _La belle Hollandaise_ had a daughter; I once saw the girl
somewhere or other, in the Rue Vivienne, one evening. They call her
"_La Torpille_," I believe; she is as pretty as pretty can be; look her
up, Grotius. You are my executor; take what you like; help yourself.