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said; "besides, I've other fish to fry," he added, wriggling his wen.
"I want to buy a few thousand francs in the Funds while they are at
eighty. They fall, I'm told, at the end of each month. You know all
about these things, don't you?"

"Bless me! then, am I to invest enough to give you a few thousand
francs a year?"

"That's not much to begin with. Hush! I don't want any one to know I
am going to play that game. You can make the investment by the end of
the month. Say nothing to the Cruchots; that'll annoy them. If you are
really going to Paris, we will see if there is anything to be done for
my poor nephew."

"Well, it's all settled. I'll start to-morrow by the mail-post," said
des Grassins aloud, "and I will come and take your last directions at
--what hour will suit you?"

"Five o'clock, just before dinner," said Grandet, rubbing his hands.

The two parties stayed on for a short time. Des Grassins said, after a
pause, striking Grandet on the shoulder,--

"It is a good thing to have a relation like him."

"Yes, yes; without making a show," said Grandet, "I am a g-good
relation. I loved my brother, and I will prove it, unless it
c-c-costs--"

"We must leave you, Grandet," said the banker, interrupting him
fortunately before he got to the end of his sentence. "If I hurry my
departure, I must attend to some matters at once."

"Very good, very good! I myself--in c-consequence of what I t-told you
--I must retire to my own room and 'd-d-deliberate,' as President
Cruchot says."

"Plague take him! I am no longer Monsieur de Bonfons," thought the
magistrate ruefully, his face assuming the expression of a judge bored
by an argument.

The heads of the two factions walked off together. Neither gave any
further thought to the treachery Grandet had been guilty of in the
morning against the whole wine-growing community; each tried to fathom
what the other was thinking about the real intentions of the wily old
man in this new affair, but in vain.

"Will you go with us to Madame Dorsonval's?" said des Grassins to the
notary.

"We will go there later," answered the president. "I have promised to
say good-evening to Mademoiselle de Gribeaucourt, and we will go there
first, if my uncle is willing."

"Farewell for the present!" said Madame des Grassins.

When the Cruchots were a few steps off, Adolphe remarked to his
father,--

"Are not they fuming, hein?"

"Hold your tongue, my son!" said his mother; "they might hear you.
Besides, what you say is not in good taste,--law-school language."

"Well, uncle," cried the president when he saw the des Grassins
disappearing, "I began by being de Bonfons, and I have ended as
nothing but Cruchot."

"I saw that that annoyed you; but the wind has set fair for the des
Grassins. What a fool you are, with all your cleverness! Let them sail
off on Grandet's 'We'll see about it,' and keep yourself quiet, young

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