In petty minds that leprosy becomes a base and brutal cupidity, both insolent and shrinking; in cultivated minds it fosters anti-social doctrines, which serve a man as footholds by which to rise above his superiors.

May we not dignify with the title of proverb the pregnant saying, "Tell me what thou hast, and I will tell thee of what thou art thinking"?
Though Adolphe loved his wife, his hourly thought was: "I have made a mistake; I have three balls and chains, but I have only two legs.

I ought to have made my fortune before I married.

I could have found an Adeline any day; but Adeline stands in the way of my getting a fortune now." Adolphe had been to see his relation Gaubertin three times in three years.

A few words exchanged between them let Gaubertin see the muck of a soul ready to ferment under the hot temptations of legal robbery.