Three months later, the colonel, who ate and drank enough for four men, finding fault with the food and compelling the poor widows, on the score of his payments, to spend much money on their table, had not yet paid down a single penny.

His mother and Madame Descoings were unwilling, out of delicacy, to remind him of his promise.

The year went by without one of those coins which Leon Gozlan so vigorously called "tigers with five claws" finding its way from Philippe's pocket to the household purse.

It is true that the colonel quieted his conscience on this score by seldom dining at home.
"Well, he is happy," said his mother; "he is easy in mind; he has a place." Through the influence of a feuilleton, edited by Vernou, a friend of Bixiou, Finot, and Giroudeau, Mariette made her appearance, not at the Panorama-Dramatique but at the Porte-Saint-Martin, where she triumphed beside the famous Begrand.

Among the directors of the theatre was a rich and luxurious general officer, in love with an actress, for whose sake he had made himself an impresario.