! What a volcano!
and how full of ingenious ways of getting money! He must be looking
for it now, wherever he is, and I make no doubt he extracts it even
from the walls built of bones that you may see in the suburbs of Paris
near the city gates--"
"And all that," said Bixiou, "for that little Madame Marneffe! There
is a precious hussy for you!"
"She is just going to marry my friend Crevel," said du Tillet.
"And she is madly in love with my friend Steinbock," Leon de Lora put
in.
These three phrases were like so many pistol-shots fired point-blank
at Montes. He turned white, and the shock was so painful that he rose
with difficulty.
"You are a set of blackguards!" cried he. "You have no right to speak
the name of an honest woman in the same breath with those fallen
creatures--above all, not to make it a mark for your slander!"
He was interrupted by unanimous bravos and applause. Bixiou, Leon de
Lora, Vauvinet, du Tillet, and Massol set the example, and there was a
chorus.
"Hurrah for the Emperor!" said Bixiou.
"Crown him! crown him!" cried Vauvinet.
"Three groans for such a good dog! Hurrah for Brazil!" cried Lousteau.
"So, my copper-colored Baron, it is our Valerie that you love; and you
are not disgusted?" said Leon de Lora.
"His remark is not parliamentary, but it is grand!" observed Massol.
"But, my most delightful customer," said du Tillet, "you were
recommended to me; I am your banker; your innocence reflects on my
credit.
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