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"Monsieur," said Adolphe to Charles with an air which he tried to make free and easy, "I don't know whether you remember me, but I had the honor of dancing as your vis-a-vis at a ball given by the Baron de Nucingen, and " "Perfectly; I remember perfectly, monsieur," answered Charles, pleased to find himself the object of general attention. "Monsieur is your son?" he said to Madame des Grassins.
Des Grassins, hearing of his return, of his approaching marriage and his large fortune, came to see him, and inquired about the three hundred thousand francs still required to settle his father's debts. He found Grandet in conference with a goldsmith, from whom he had ordered jewels for Mademoiselle d'Aubrion's corbeille, and who was then submitting the designs.
Petit, the Inspector Caniolle, and the officer of the peace, Destavigny, kept nearer to it, expecting to see it stop before one of the houses in the street, when they would only have to take Georges on the threshold. But to their great disappointment the cab turned to the right, into the narrow Rue des Amandiers, and stopped at a porte cocherè near the old Collège des Grassins.
"I have been thinking, my poor child, that if you had confided your secret to me we should have had time to write to Monsieur des Grassins in Paris. He might have sent us gold pieces like yours; though Grandet knows them all, perhaps " "Where could we have got the money?" "I would have pledged my own property. Besides, Monsieur des Grassins would have "
Des Grassins came to take his client's orders just as the family sat down to dinner. Grandet had not even observed his nephew. "Go on eating, Grandet," said the banker; "we can talk. Do you know what gold is worth in Angers? They have come from Nantes after it? I shall send some of ours." "Don't send any," said Grandet; "they have got enough.
Soon after this, des Grassins called a meeting of the creditors, who unanimously elected him, conjointly with Francois Keller, the head of a rich banking-house and one of those principally interested in the affair, as liquidators, with full power to protect both the honor of the family and the interests of the claimants.
The des Grassins soon learned the facts of the failure and the violent death of Guillaume Grandet, and they determined to go to their client's house that very evening to commiserate his misfortune and show him some marks of friendship, with a view of ascertaining the motives which had led him to invite the Cruchots to dinner.
"I mean it in the best possible sense for you, for madame, for the town of Saumur, and for monsieur," said the wily old man, turning to Charles. The Abbe Cruchot had guessed the conversation between Charles and Madame des Grassins without seeming to pay attention to it.
She then read the whole letter, which was as follows: My dear Cousin, You will, I am sure, hear with pleasure of the success of my enterprise. You brought me luck; I have come back rich, and I have followed the advice of my uncle, whose death, together with that of my aunt, I have just learned from Monsieur des Grassins. The death of parents is in the course of nature, and we must succeed them.
"Madame Grandet, go back to your loto; leave me to speak with monsieur." Then he pulled the door quickly to, and the excited players returned to their seats, but did not continue the game. "Is it any one belonging to Saumur, Monsieur des Grassins?" asked his wife. "No, it is a traveller." "He must have come from Paris."
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