relations existing between Monsieur and Madame Roguin. He had come
there not so much to seduce Madame Cesar as to obtain the offer of her
daughter's hand by way of compensation for frustrated hopes, and he
found little difficulty in renouncing his purpose when he discovered
that Cesar, whom he supposed to be rich, was in point of fact
comparatively poor. He set a watch on the notary, wormed himself into
his confidence, was presented to la belle Hollandaise, made a study of
their relation to each other, and soon found that she threatened to
renounce her lover if he limited her luxuries. La belle Hollandaise
was one of those mad-cap women who care nothing as to where the money
comes from, or how it is obtained, and who are capable of giving a
ball with the gold obtained by a parricide. She never thought of the
morrow; for her the future was after dinner, and the end of the month
eternity, even if she had bills to pay. Du Tillet, delighted to have
found such a lever, exacted from la belle Hollandaise a promise that
she would love Roguin for thirty thousand francs a year instead of
fifty thousand,--a service which infatuated old men seldom forget.

One evening, after a supper where the wine flowed freely, Roguin
unbosomed himself to du Tillet on the subject of his financial
difficulties. His own estate was tied up and legally settled on his
wife, and he had been led by his fatal passion to take from the funds
entrusted to him by his clients a sum which was already more than half
their amount. When the whole were gone, the unfortunate man intended
to blow out his brains, hoping to mitigate the disgrace of his conduct
by making a demand upon public pity. A fortune, rapid and secure,
darted before du Tillet's eyes like a flash of lightning in a
saturnalian night. He promptly reassured Roguin, and made him fire his
pistols into the air.