With that Auguste stalked from the room, leaving the _busy_ gentleman utterly bewildered by the compliment paid to him, and unable to find a word to say in reply. Again Bertrand was awaiting his master's return; but when Auguste appeared, the other divined the result of his quest. The young man's eyes shone with anger. "Black bread and water, eh, monsieur?" asked Bertrand. "Yes, my friend, yes. Ah! these men! Upon my word, I have good grounds for becoming a misanthrope. I have never known the world so well as since I lost my money. Parvenus who think that they may presume to go any length because they are millionaires! Men of intellect who think of nobody but themselves, and who, provided that they are coddled and amused, show the most absolute indifference to everything else! People with the most polished manners who cheat you out of your money! Conceited asses who want to be flattered, fools who flatter them, parasites who suck your blood, swindlers who ruin you, and men who turn their backs on you when you're unlucky! Those are what I see now. And they are just what have always been seen, so 'tis said. Men are the same everywhere; they were no different before the Flood, and the study of history is simply the study of the passions which have ruled the actions of the human race for ages." "In all this, my lieutenant, you forget the women, who----" "Ah! let us say no ill of them, my friend, they are a hundred times better than we. Do we not find enjoyment even with those whom we deceive? That is one pleasant memory, at all events, of which misfortune cannot deprive us." "That reminds me, monsieur, that Mademoiselle Virginie came to see you to-day." "Poor Virginie! she doesn't know as yet of the change in my fortunes. Well! what did she say, Bertrand?" "She said, first of all, that it wouldn't be well for an asthmatic subject to come up so high; then she asked me whether you had come up so many flights so that you could go down in a parachute; but when I told her how you had been swindled, why, I must do her the justice to say that she seemed deeply moved; she shed some tears and asked me for a glass of kirsch to pull her together. She's coming to breakfast with you some morning." "I shall be very glad to see her; she, at all events, won't avoid me when she meets me." "And those good people at Montfermeil--pretty Denise--do you think, monsieur, that they wouldn't be glad to see you again?" "I am afraid that the cold welcome I gave Denise when she came to Paris----" "She won't remember, monsieur, when she finds out that you're unfortunate. And that child you're so fond of--that you think is such a fine little fellow--why not go to see him?" "Why? You seem to forget, Bertrand, that I can no longer do anything for him! I promised to educate him, to take charge of his future--and all my plans are destroyed!"