To the old judge, Popinot, succeeded Cerizet; and strange to say,--a fact which it is well to study,--the effect produced, socially speaking, was much the same.

Popinot loaned money without interest, and was willing to lose; Cerizet lost nothing, and compelled the poor to work hard and stay virtuous.

The poor adored Popinot, but they did not hate Cerizet.

Here, in this region, revolves the lowest wheel of Parisian financiering.

At the top, Nucingen & Co., the Kellers, du Tillet, and the Mongenods; a little lower down, the Palmas, Gigonnets, and Gobsecks; lower still, the Samonons, Chaboisseaus, and Barbets; and lastly (after the pawn-shops) comes this king of usury, who spreads his nets at the corners of the streets to entangle all miseries and miss none,--Cerizet, "money lender by the little week." The frogged frock-coat will have prepared you for the den in which this convicted stock-broker carried on his present business.
The house was humid with saltpetre; the walls, sweating moisture, were enamelled all over with large slabs of mould.