“You know these persons, then?”
“They are my friends.”
“You astonish me!”
“Let us understand each other. I am not procureur-impérial. Their conduct does not concern me. Let them continue to dupe fools: that is an affair between their consciences and human stupidity. For myself, I have always found them very agreeable: they have often proved serviceable in lending me money.”
“At cent. per cent.?”
“At nothing per cent.”
“Then they are not such usurers as you wish to represent.”
“They go further in that direction than I care to say; but not with me. Why? The day is approaching when their fortunes will be made. They will abandon their business, keep their carriages, maintain mistresses, marry heiresses, and endeavor to make a figure in society. But there is one thing they cannot purchase,—social esteem. They count upon me to help them in that particular and set them in a favorable light before the public.”
“Sad! sad!” murmured Eusebe.