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f-f-failure. I c-c-can't be in two p-p-places at once, unless I were a
little b-b-bird, and--"

"I understand," cried the notary. "Well, my old friend, you have
friends, old friends, capable of devoting themselves to your
interests."

"All right!" thought Grandet, "make haste and come to the point!"

"Suppose one of them went to Paris and saw your brother Guillaume's
chief creditor and said to him--"

"One m-m-moment," interrupted the goodman, "said wh-wh-what? Something
l-l-like this. Monsieur Gr-Grandet of Saumur this, Monsieur Grandet of
Saumur that. He l-loves his b-b-brother, he loves his n-nephew.
Grandet is a g-g-good uncle; he m-m-means well. He has sold his
v-v-vintage. D-d-don't declare a f-f-failure; c-c-call a meeting;
l-l-liquidate; and then Gr-Gr-Grandet will see what he c-c-can do.
B-b-better liquidate than l-let the l-l-law st-st-stick its n-n-nose
in. Hein? isn't it so?"

"Exactly so," said the president.

"B-because, don't you see, Monsieur de B-Bonfons, a man must l-l-look
b-b-before he l-leaps. If you c-c-can't, you c-c-can't. M-m-must know
all about the m-m-matter, all the resources and the debts, if you
d-d-don't want to be r-r-ruined. Hein? isn't it so?"

"Certainly," said the president. "I'm of opinion that in a few months
the debts might be bought up for a certain sum, and then paid in full
by an agreement. Ha! ha! you can coax a dog a long way if you show him
a bit of lard. If there has been no declaration of failure, and you
hold a lien on the debts, you come out of the business as white as the
driven snow."

"Sn-n-now," said Grandet, putting his hand to his ear, "wh-wh-what
about s-now?"

"But," cried the president, "do pray attend to what I am saying."

"I am at-t-tending."

"A note is merchandise,--an article of barter which rises and falls in
prices. That is a deduction from Jeremy Bentham's theory about usury.
That writer has proved that the prejudice which condemned usurers to
reprobation was mere folly."

"Whew!" ejaculated the goodman.

"Allowing that money, according to Bentham, is an article of
merchandise, and that whatever represents money is equally
merchandise," resumed the president; "allowing also that it is
notorious that the commercial note, bearing this or that signature, is
liable to the fluctuation of all commercial values, rises or falls in
the market, is dear at one moment, and is worth nothing at another,
the courts decide--ah! how stupid I am, I beg your pardon--I am
inclined to think you could buy up your brother's debts for
twenty-five per cent."

"D-d-did you c-c-call him Je-Je-Jeremy B-Ben?"

"Bentham, an Englishman.'

"That's a Jeremy who might save us a lot of lamentations in business,"
said the notary, laughing.

"Those Englishmen s-sometimes t-t-talk sense," said Grandet. "So,
ac-c-cording to Ben-Bentham, if my b-b-brother's n-notes are worth
n-n-nothing; if Je-Je--I'm c-c-correct, am I not? That seems c-c-clear

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