a relation of Monsieur le Duc and Madame la Duchesse de Lenoncourt,
who are now customers of ours. I pray every Sunday for her and for all
her family; I send yearly to her niece in Touraine, Madame de
Mortsauf, all her perfumery. I get a good deal of custom through them;
there's Monsieur de Vandenesse who spends twelve hundred francs a year
with us. If I were not grateful out of good feeling, I ought to be so
out of policy; but as for you Anselme, I wish you well for you own
sake, and without any other thought."

"Ah, monsieur! if you will allow me to say so, you have got a head of
gold."

"No, no, my boy, that's not it. I don't say that my head-piece isn't
as good as another's; but the thing is, I've been honest,
--_tenaciously_! I've kept to good conduct; I never loved any woman
except my wife. Love is a famous _vehicle_,--happy word used by
Monsieur Villele in the tribune yesterday."

"Love!" exclaimed Popinot. "Oh, monsieur! can it be--"

"Bless me! there's Pere Roguin, on foot at this hour, at the top of
the Place Louis XV. I wonder what he is doing there!" thought Cesar,
forgetting all about Anselme and the oil of nuts.

The suspicions of his wife came back to his mind; and instead of
turning in to the Tuileries Gardens, Birotteau walked on to meet the
notary. Anselme followed his master at a distance, without being able
to define the reason why he suddenly felt an interest in a matter so
apparently unimportant, and full of joy at the encouragement he
derived from Cesar's mention of the hob-nailed shoes, the one louis,