Theodose, certain now of his supremacy, holding Thuillier fast by his past services and by the literary work in which they were both engaged, admired by Brigitte for his modesty and discretion,--for never had he made the slightest allusion to his own poverty or uttered one word about money,--Theodose began to assume an air that was rather less servile than it had been.

Brigitte and Thuillier said to him one day:-- "Nothing can deprive you of our esteem; you are here in this house as if in your own home; the opinion of Minard and Phellion, which you seem to fear, has no more value for us than a stanza of Victor Hugo.

Therefore, let them talk! Carry your head high!" "But we shall still need them for Thuillier's election to the Chamber," said Theodose.

"Follow my advice; you have found it good so far, haven't you?
When the house is actually yours, you will have got it for almost nothing; for you can now buy into the Three-per-cents at sixty in Madame Thuillier's name, and thus replace nearly the whole of her fortune.

Wait only for the expiration of the time allowed to the nominal creditor to buy it in, and have the fifteen thousand francs ready for our scoundrels." Brigitte did not wait; she took her whole capital with the exception of a sum of one hundred and twenty thousand francs, and bought into the Three-per-cents in Madame Thuillier's name to the amount of twelve thousand francs a year, and in her own for ten thousand a year, resolving in her own mind to choose no other kind of investment in future.