Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
by
Honore de Balzac
Part 12 out of 12
know as well as I do all the bankruptcies and tricks for which that
man deserves hanging. My fetters will leave a mark on all my actions,
however virtuous. To be a shuttlecock between two racquets--one called
the hulks, and the other the police--is a life in which success means
never-ending toil, and peace and quiet seem quite impossible.
"At this moment, Monsieur de Granville, Jacques Collin is buried with
Lucien, who is being now sprinkled with holy water and carried away to
Pere-Lachaise. What I want is a place not to live in, but to die in.
As things are, you, representing Justice, have never cared to make the
released convict's social status a concern of any interest. Though the
law may be satisfied, society is not; society is still suspicious, and
does all it can to justify its suspicions; it regards a released
convict as an impossible creature; it ought to restore him to his full
rights, but, in fact, it prohibits his living in certain circles.
Society says to the poor wretch, 'Paris, which is the only place you
can be hidden in; Paris and its suburbs for so many miles round is the
forbidden land, you shall not live there!' and it subjects the convict
to the watchfulness of the police. Do you think that life is possible
under such conditions? To live, the convict must work, for he does not
come out of prison with a fortune.
"You arrange matters so that he is plainly ticketed, recognized,
hedged round, and then you fancy that his fellow-citizens will trust
him, when society and justice and the world around him do not. You
condemn him to starvation or crime. He cannot get work, and is
inevitably dragged into his old ways, which lead to the scaffold.
"Thus, while earnestly wishing to give up this struggle with the law,
I could find no place for myself under the sun. One course alone is
open to me, that is to become the servant of the power that crushes
us; and as soon as this idea dawned on me, the Power of which I spoke
was shown in the clearest light. Three great families are at my mercy.
Do not suppose I am thinking of blackmail--blackmail is the meanest
form of murder. In my eyes it is baser villainy than murder. The
murderer needs, at any rate, atrocious courage. And I practise what I
preach; for the letters which are my safe-conduct, which allow me to
address you thus, and for the moment place me on an equality with you
--I, Crime, and you, Justice--those letters are in your power. Your
messenger may fetch them, and they will be given up to him.
"I ask no price for them; I do not sell them. Alas! Monsieur le Comte,
I was not thinking of myself when I preserved them; I thought that
Lucien might some day be in danger! If you cannot agree to my request,
my courage is out; I hate life more than enough to make me blow out my
own brains and rid you of me!--Or, with a passport, I can go to
America and live in the wilderness. I have all the characteristics of
a savage.
"These are the thoughts that came to me in the night.--Your clerk, no
doubt, carried you a message I sent by him. When I saw what
precautions you took to save Lucien's memory from any stain, I
dedicated my life to you--a poor offering, for I no longer cared for
it; it seemed to me impossible without the star that gave it light,
the happiness that glorified it, the thought that gave it meaning, the
prosperity of the young poet who was its sun--and I determined to give
you the three packets of letters----"
Monsieur de Granville bowed his head.
"I went down into the prison-yard, and there I found the persons
guilty of the Nanterre crime, as well as my little chain companion
within an inch of the chopper as an involuntary accessory after the
fact," Jacques Collin went on. "I discovered that Bibi-Lupin is
cheating the authorities, that one of his men murdered the Crottats.
Was not this providential, as you say?--So I perceived a remote
possibility of doing good, of turning my gifts and the dismal
experience I have gained to account for the benefit of society, of
being useful instead of mischievous, and I ventured to confide in your
judgment, your generosity."
The man's air of candor, of artlessness, of childlike simplicity, as
he made his confession, without bitterness, or that philosophy of vice
which had hitherto made him so terrible to hear, was like an absolute
transformation. He was no longer himself.
"I have such implicit trust in you," he went on, with the humility of
a penitent, "that I am wholly at your mercy. You see me with three
roads open to me--suicide, America, and the Rue de Jerusalem. Bibi-
Lupin is rich; he has served his turn; he is a double-faced rascal.
And if you set me to work against him, I would catch him red-handed in
some trick within a week. If you will put me in that sneak's shoes,
you will do society a real service. I will be honest. I have every
quality that is needed in the profession. I am better educated than
Bibi-Lupin; I went through my schooling up to rhetoric; I shall not
blunder as he does; I have very good manners when I choose. My sole
ambition is to become an instrument of order and repression instead of
being the incarnation of corruption. I will enlist no more recruits to
the army of vice.
"In war, monsieur, when a hostile general is captured, he is not shot,
you know; his sword is returned to him, and his prison is a large
town; well, I am the general of the hulks, and I have surrendered.--I
am beaten, not by the law, but by death. The sphere in which I crave
to live and act is the only one that is suited to me, and there I can
develop the powers I feel within me.
"Decide."
And Jacques Collin stood in an attitude of diffident submission.
"You place the letters in my hands, then?" said the public prosecutor.
"You have only to send for them; they will be delivered to your
messenger."
"But how?"
Jacques Collin read the magistrate's mind, and kept up the game.
"You promised me to commute the capital sentence on Calvi for twenty
years' penal servitude. Oh, I am not reminding you of that to drive a
bargain," he added eagerly, seeing Monsieur de Granville's expression;
"that life should be safe for other reasons, the lad is innocent----"
"How am I to get the letters?" asked the public prosecutor. "It is my
right and my business to convince myself that you are the man you say
you are. I must have you without conditions."
"Send a man you can trust to the Flower Market on the quay. At the
door of a tinman's shop, under the sign of Achilles' shield----"
"That house?"
"Yes," said Jacques Collin, smiling bitterly, "my shield is there.--
Your man will see an old woman dressed, as I told you before, like a
fish-woman who has saved money--earrings in her ears, and clothes like
a rich market-woman's. He must ask for Madame de Saint-Esteve. Do not
omit the DE. And he must say, 'I have come from the public prosecutor
to fetch you know what.'-- You will immediately receive three sealed
packets."
"All the letters are there?" said Monsieur de Granville.
"There is no tricking you; you did not get your place for nothing!"
said Jacques Collin, with a smile. "I see you still think me capable
of testing you and giving you so much blank paper.--No; you do not
know me," said he. "I trust you as a son trusts his father."
"You will be taken back to the Conciergerie," said the magistrate,
"and there await a decision as to your fate."
Monsieur de Granville rang, and said to the office-boy who answered:
"Beg Monsieur Garnery to come here, if he is in his room."
Besides the forty-eight police commissioners who watch over Paris like
forty-eight petty Providences, to say nothing of the guardians of
Public Safety--and who have earned the nickname of quart d'oeil, in
thieves' slang, a quarter of an eye, because there are four of them to
each district,--besides these, there are two commissioners attached
equally to the police and to the legal authorities, whose duty it is
to undertake delicate negotiation, and not frequently to serve as
deputies to the examining judges. The office of these two magistrates,
for police commissioners are also magistrates, is known as the
Delegates' office; for they are, in fact, delegated on each occasion,
and formally empowered to carry out inquiries or arrests.
These functions demand men of ripe age, proved intelligence, great
rectitude, and perfect discretion; and it is one of the miracles
wrought by Heaven in favor of Paris, that some men of that stamp are
always forthcoming. Any description of the Palais de Justice would be
incomplete without due mention of these PREVENTIVE officials, as they
may be called, the most powerful adjuncts of the law; for though it
must be owned that the force of circumstances has abrogated the
ancient pomp and wealth of justice, it has materially gained in many
ways. In Paris especially its machinery is admirably perfect.
Monsieur de Granville had sent his secretary, Monsieur de Chargeboeuf,
to attend Lucien's funeral; he needed a substitute for this business,
a man he could trust, and Monsieur Garnery was one of the
commissioners in the Delegates' office.
"Monsieur," said Jacques Collin, "I have already proved to you that I
have a sense of honor. You let me go free, and I came back.--By this
time the funeral mass for Lucien is ended; they will be carrying him
to the grave. Instead of remanding me to the Conciergerie, give me
leave to follow the boy's body to Pere-Lachaise. I will come back and
surrender myself prisoner."
"Go," said Monsieur de Granville, in the kindest tone.
"One word more, monsieur. The money belonging to that girl--Lucien's
mistress--was not stolen. During the short time of liberty you allowed
me, I questioned her servants. I am sure of them as you are of your
two commissioners of the Delegates' office. The money paid for the
certificate sold by Mademoiselle Esther Gobseck will certainly be
found in her room when the seals are removed. Her maid remarked to me
that the deceased was given to mystery-making, and very distrustful;
she no doubt hid the banknotes in her bed. Let the bedstead be
carefully examined and taken to pieces, the mattresses unsewn--the
money will be found."
"You are sure of that?"
"I am sure of the relative honesty of my rascals; they never play any
tricks on me. I hold the power of life and death; I try and condemn
them and carry out my sentence without all your formalities. You can
see for yourself the results of my authority. I will recover the money
stolen from Monsieur and Madame Crottat; I will hand you over one of
Bibi-Lupin's men, his right hand, caught in the act; and I will tell
you the secret of the Nanterre murders. This is not a bad beginning.
And if you only employ me in the service of the law and the police, by
the end of a year you will be satisfied with all I can tell you. I
will be thoroughly all that I ought to be, and shall manage to succeed
in all the business that is placed in my hands."
"I can promise you nothing but my goodwill. What you ask is not in my
power. The privilege of granting pardons is the King's alone, on the
recommendation of the Keeper of the Seals; and the place you wish to
hold is in the gift of the Prefet of Police."
"Monsieur Garnery," the office-boy announced.
At a nod from Monsieur de Granville the Delegate commissioner came in,
glanced at Jacques Collin as one who knows, and gulped down his
astonishment on hearing the word "Go!" spoken to Jacques Collin by
Monsieur de Granville.
"Allow me," said Jacques Collin, "to remain here till Monsieur Garnery
has returned with the documents in which all my strength lies, that I
may take away with me some expression of your satisfaction."
This absolute humility and sincerity touched the public prosecutor.
"Go," said he; "I can depend on you."
Jacques Collin bowed humbly, with the submissiveness of an inferior to
his master. Ten minutes later, Monsieur de Granville was in possession
of the letters in three sealed packets that had not been opened! But
the importance of this point, and Jacques Collin's avowal, had made
him forget the convict's promise to cure Madame de Serizy.
When once he was outside, Jacques Collin had an indescribable sense of
satisfaction. He felt he was free, and born to a new phase of life. He
walked quickly from the Palais to the Church of Saint-Germain-des-
Pres, where mass was over. The coffin was being sprinkled with holy
water, and he arrived in time thus to bid farewell, in a Christian
fashion, to the mortal remains of the youth he had loved so well. Then
he got into a carriage and drove after the body to the cemetery.
In Paris, unless on very exceptional occasions, or when some famous
man has died a natural death, the crowd that gathers about a funeral
diminishes by degrees as the procession approaches Pere-Lachaise.
People make time to show themselves in church; but every one has his
business to attend to, and returns to it as soon as possible. Thus of
ten mourning carriages, only four were occupied. By the time they
reached Pere-Lachaise there were not more than a dozen followers,
among whom was Rastignac.
"That is right; it is well that you are faithful to him," said Jacques
Collin to his old acquaintance.
Rastignac started with surprise at seeing Vautrin.
"Be calm," said his old fellow-boarder at Madame Vauquer's. "I am your
slave, if only because I find you here. My help is not to be despised;
I am, or shall be, more powerful than ever. You slipped your cable,
and you did it very cleverly; but you may need me yet, and I will
always be at your service.
"But what are you going to do?"
"To supply the hulks with lodgers instead of lodging there," replied
Jacques Collin.
Rastignac gave a shrug of disgust.
"But if you were robbed----"
Rastignac hurried on to get away from Jacques Collin.
"You do not know what circumstances you may find yourself in."
They stood by the grave dug by the side of Esther's.
"Two beings who loved each other, and who were happy!" said Jacques
Collin. "They are united.--It is some comfort to rot together. I will
be buried here."
When Lucien's body was lowered into the grave, Jacques Collin fell in
a dead faint. This strong man could not endure the light rattle of the
spadefuls of earth thrown by the gravediggers on the coffin as a hint
for their payment.
Just then two men of the corps of Public Safety came up; they
recognized Jacques Collin, lifted him up, and carried him to a hackney
coach.
"What is up now?" asked Jacques Collin when he recovered consciousness
and had looked about him.
He saw himself between two constables, one of whom was Ruffard; and he
gave him a look which pierced the murderer's soul to the very depths
of la Gonore's secret.
"Why, the public prosecutor wants you," replied Ruffard, "and we have
been hunting for you everywhere, and found you in the cemetery, where
you had nearly taken a header into that boy's grave."
Jacques Collin was silent for a moment.
"Is it Bibi-Lupin that is after me?" he asked the other man.
"No. Monsieur Garnery sent us to find you."
"And he told you nothing?"
The two men looked at each other, holding council in expressive
pantomime.
"Come, what did he say when he gave you your orders?"
"He bid us fetch you at once," said Ruffard, "and said we should find
you at the Church of Saint-Germain-des-Pres; or, if the funeral had
left the church, at the cemetery."
"The public prosecutor wants me?"
"Perhaps."
"That is it," said Jacques Collin; "he wants my assistance."
And he relapsed into silence, which greatly puzzled the two
constables.
At about half-past two Jacques Collin once more went up to Monsieur de
Granville's room, and found there a fresh arrival in the person of
Monsieur de Granville's predecessor, the Comte Octave de Bauvan, one
of the Presidents of the Court of Appeals.
"You forgot Madame de Serizy's dangerous condition, and that you had
promised to save her."
"Ask these rascals in what state they found me, monsieur," said
Jacques Collin, signing to the two constables to come in.
"Unconscious, monsieur, lying on the edge of the grave of the young
man they were burying."
"Save Madame de Serizy," said the Comte de Bauvan, "and you shall have
what you will."
"I ask for nothing," said Jacques Collin. "I surrendered at
discretion, and Monsieur de Granville must have received----"
"All the letters, yes," said the magistrate. "But you promised to save
Madame de Serizy's reason. Can you? Was it not a vain boast?"
"I hope I can," replied Jacques Collin modestly.
"Well, then, come with me," said Comte Octave.
"No, monsieur; I will not be seen in the same carriage by your side--I
am still a convict. It is my wish to serve the Law; I will not begin
by discrediting it. Go back to the Countess; I will be there soon
after you. Tell her Lucien's best friend is coming to see her, the
Abbe Carlos Herrera; the anticipation of my visit will make an
impression on her and favor the cure. You will forgive me for assuming
once more the false part of a Spanish priest; it is to do so much
good!"
"I shall find you there at about four o'clock," said Monsieur de
Granville, "for I have to wait on the King with the Keeper of the
Seals."
Jacques Collin went off to find his aunt, who was waiting for him on
the Quai aux Fleurs.
"So you have given yourself up to the authorities?" said she.
"Yes."
"It is a risky game."
"No; I owed that poor Theodore his life, and he is reprieved."
"And you?"
"I--I shall be what I ought to be. I shall always make our set shake
in their shoes.--But we must get to work. Go and tell Paccard to be
off as fast as he can go, and see that Europe does as I told her."
"That is a trifle; I know how to deal with la Gonore," said the
terrible Jacqueline. "I have not been wasting my time here among the
gilliflowers."
"Let Ginetta, the Corsican girl, be found by to-morrow," Jacques
Collin went on, smiling at his aunt.
"I shall want some clue."
"You can get it through Manon la Blonde," said Jacques.
"Then we meet this evening," replied the aunt, "you are in such a
deuce of a hurry. Is there a fat job on?"
"I want to begin with a stroke that will beat everything that Bibi-
Lupin has ever done. I have spoken a few words to the brute who killed
Lucien, and I live only for revenge! Thanks to our positions, he and I
shall be equally strong, equally protected. It will take years to
strike the blow, but the wretch shall have it straight in the heart."
"He must have vowed a Roland for your Oliver," said the aunt, "for he
has taken charge of Peyrade's daughter, the girl who was sold to
Madame Nourrisson, you know."
"Our first point must be to find him a servant."
"That will be difficult; he must be tolerably wide-awake," observed
Jacqueline.
"Well, hatred keeps one alive! We must work hard."
Jacques Collin took a cab and drove at once to the Quai Malaquais, to
the little room he lodged in, quite separate from Lucien's apartment.
The porter, greatly astonished at seeing him, wanted to tell him all
that had happened.
"I know everything," said the Abbe. "I have been involved in it, in
spite of my saintly reputation; but, thanks to the intervention of the
Spanish Ambassador, I have been released."
He hurried up to his room, where, from under the cover of a breviary,
he took out a letter that Lucien had written to Madame de Serizy after
that lady had discarded him on seeing him at the opera with Esther.
Lucien, in his despair, had decided on not sending this letter,
believing himself cast off for ever; but Jacques Collin had read the
little masterpiece; and as all that Lucien wrote was to him sacred, he
had treasured the letter in his prayer-book for its poetical
expression of a passion that was chiefly vanity. When Monsieur de
Granville told him of Madame de Serizy's condition, the keen-witted
man had very wisely concluded that this fine lady's despair and frenzy
must be the result of the quarrel she had allowed to subsist between
herself and Lucien. He knew women as magistrates know criminals; he
guessed the most secret impulses of their hearts; and he at once
understood that the Countess probably ascribed Lucien's death partly
to her own severity, and reproached herself bitterly. Obviously a man
on whom she had shed her love would never have thrown away his life!--
To know that he had loved her still, in spite of her cruelty, might
restore her reason.
If Jacques Collin was a grand general of convicts, he was, it must be
owned, a not less skilful physician of souls.
This man's arrival at the mansion of the Serizys was at once a
disgrace and a promise. Several persons, the Count, and the doctors
were assembled in the little drawing-room adjoining the Countess'
bedroom; but to spare him this stain on his soul's honor, the Comte de
Bauvan dismissed everybody, and remained alone with his friend. It was
bad enough even then for the Vice-President of the Privy Council to
see this gloomy and sinister visitor come in.
Jacques Collin had changed his dress. He was in black with trousers,
and a plain frock-coat, and his gait, his look, and his manner were
all that could be wished. He bowed to the two statesmen, and asked if
he might be admitted to see the Countess.
"She awaits you with impatience," said Monsieur de Bauvan.
"With impatience! Then she is saved," said the dreadful magician.
And, in fact, after an interview of half an hour, Jacques Collin
opened the door and said:
"Come in, Monsieur le Comte; there is nothing further to fear."
The Countess had the letter clasped to her heart; she was calm, and
seemed to have forgiven herself. The Count gave expression to his joy
at the sight.
"And these are the men who settle our fate and the fate of nations,"
thought Jacques Collin, shrugging his shoulders behind the two men. "A
female has but to sigh in the wrong way to turn their brain as if it
were a glove! A wink, and they lose their head! A petticoat raised a
little higher, dropped a little lower, and they rush round Paris in
despair! The whims of a woman react on the whole country. Ah, how much
stronger is a man when, like me, he keeps far away from this childish
tyranny, from honor ruined by passion, from this frank malignity, and
wiles worthy of savages! Woman, with her genius for ruthlessness, her
talent for torture, is, and always will be, the marring of man. The
public prosecutor, the minister--here they are, all hoodwinked, all
moving the spheres for some letters written by a duchess and a chit,
or to save the reason of a woman who is more crazy in her right mind
than she was in her delirium."
And he smiled haughtily.
"Ay," said he to himself, "and they believe in me! They act on my
information, and will leave me in power. I shall still rule the world
which has obeyed me these five-and-twenty years."
Jacques Collin had brought into play the overpowering influence he had
exerted of yore over poor Esther; for he had, as has often been shown,
the mode of speech, the look, the action which quell madmen, and he
had depicted Lucien as having died with the Countess' image in his
heart.
No woman can resist the idea of having been the one beloved.
"You now have no rival," had been this bitter jester's last words.
He remained a whole hour alone and forgotten in that little room.
Monsieur de Granville arrived and found him gloomy, standing up, and
lost in a brown study, as a man may well be who makes an 18th Brumaire
in his life.
The public prosecutor went to the door of the Countess' room, and
remained there a few minutes; then he turned to Jacques Collin and
said:
"You have not changed your mind?"
"No, monsieur."
"Well, then, you will take Bibi-Lupin's place, and Calvi's sentence
will be commuted."
"And he is not to be sent to Rochefort?"
"Not even to Toulon; you may employ him in your service. But these
reprieves and your appointment depend on your conduct for the next six
months as subordinate to Bibi-Lupin."
Within a week Bibi-Lupin's new deputy had helped the Crottat family to
recover four hundred thousand francs, and had brought Ruffard and
Godet to justice.
The price of the certificates sold by Esther Gobseck was found in the
courtesan's mattress, and Monsieur de Serizy handed over to Jacques
Collin the three hundred thousand francs left to him by Lucien de
Rubempre.
The monument erected by Lucien's orders for Esther and himself is
considered one of the finest in Pere-Lachaise, and the earth beneath
it belongs to Jacques Collin.
After exercising his functions for about fifteen years Jacques Collin
retired in 1845.
DECEMBER 1847.
ADDENDUM
The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy.
Ajuda-Pinto, Marquis Miguel d'
Father Goriot
The Secrets of a Princess
Beatrix
Bauvan, Comte Octave de
Honorine
Beaumesnil, Mademoiselle
The Middle Classes
A Second Home
Beaupre, Fanny
A Start in Life
Modeste Mignon
The Muse of the Department
Bianchon, Horace
Father Goriot
The Atheist's Mass
Cesar Birotteau
The Commission in Lunacy
Lost Illusions
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
A Bachelor's Establishment
The Secrets of a Princess
The Government Clerks
Pierrette
A Study of Woman
Honorine
The Seamy Side of History
The Magic Skin
A Second Home
A Prince of Bohemia
Letters of Two Brides
The Muse of the Department
The Imaginary Mistress
The Middle Classes
Cousin Betty
The Country Parson
In addition, M. Bianchon narrated the following:
Another Study of Woman
La Grande Breteche
Bibi-Lupin (chief of secret police, called himself Gondureau)
Father Goriot
Bixiou, Jean-Jacques
The Purse
A Bachelor's Establishment
The Government Clerks
Modeste Mignon
The Firm of Nucingen
The Muse of the Department
Cousin Betty
The Member for Arcis
Beatrix
A Man of Business
Gaudissart II.
The Unconscious Humorists
Cousin Pons
Blondet, Emile
Jealousies of a Country Town
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
Modeste Mignon
Another Study of Woman
The Secrets of a Princess
A Daughter of Eve
The Firm of Nucingen
The Peasantry
Bouvard, Doctor
Ursule Mirouet
Braschon
Cesar Birotteau
Bridau, Philippe
A Bachelor's Establishment
Cachan
Lost Illusions
Camusot de Marville
Cousin Pons
Jealousies of a Country Town
The Commission in Lunacy
Camusot de Marville, Madame
The Vendetta
Cesar Birotteau
Jealousies of a Country Town
Cousin Pons
Cerizet
Lost Illusions
A Man of Business
The Middle Classes
Chardon, Madame (nee Rubempre)
Lost Illusions
Chatelet, Sixte, Baron du
Lost Illusions
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
The Thirteen
Chaulieu, Henri, Duc de
Letters of Two Brides
Modeste Mignon
A Bachelor's Establishment
The Thirteen
Collin, Jacqueline
Cousin Betty
The Unconscious Humorists
Collin, Jacques
Father Goriot
Lost Illusions
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
The Member for Arcis
Corentin
The Chouans
The Gondreville Mystery
The Middle Classes
Crottat, Monsieur and Madame
Cesar Birotteau
Dauriat
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
Modeste Mignon
Derville
Gobseck
A Start in Life
The Gondreville Mystery
Father Goriot
Colonel Chabert
Desplein
The Atheist's Mass
Cousin Pons
Lost Illusions
The Thirteen
The Government Clerks
Pierrette
A Bachelor's Establishment
The Seamy Side of History
Modeste Mignon
Honorine
Desroches (son)
A Bachelor's Establishment
Colonel Chabert
A Start in Life
A Woman of Thirty
The Commission in Lunacy
The Government Clerks
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
The Firm of Nucingen
A Man of Business
The Middle Classes
Espard, Charles-Maurice-Marie-Andoche, Comte de Negrepelisse, Marquis d'
The Commission in Lunacy
Espard, Chevalier d'
The Commission in Lunacy
The Secrets of a Princess
Espard, Jeanne-Clementine-Athenais de Blamont-Chauvry, Marquise d'
The Commission in Lunacy
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
Letters of Two Brides
Another Study of Woman
The Gondreville Mystery
The Secrets of a Princess
A Daughter of Eve
Beatrix
Estourny, Charles d'
Modeste Mignon
A Man of Business
Falleix, Jacques
The Government Clerks
The Thirteen
Finot, Andoche
Cesar Birotteau
A Bachelor's Establishment
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
The Government Clerks
A Start in Life
Gaudissart the Great
The Firm of Nucingen
Fouche, Joseph
The Chouans
The Gondreville Mystery
Gaillard, Theodore
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
Beatrix
The Unconscious Humorists
Gaillard, Madame Theodore
Jealousies of a Country Town
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
A Bachelor's Establishment
Beatrix
The Unconscious Humorists
Gaudissart, Felix
Cousin Pons
Cesar Birotteau
Honorine
Gaudissart the Great
Givry
Letters of Two Brides
The Lily of the Valley
Gobseck, Esther Van
Gobseck
The Firm of Nucingen
A Bachelor's Establishment
Gobseck, Sarah Van
Gobseck
Cesar Birotteau
The Maranas
The Member for Arcis
Godeschal, Marie
A Bachelor's Establishment
A Start in Life
Cousin Pons
Grandlieu, Duc Ferdinand de
The Gondreville Mystery
The Thirteen
A Bachelor's Establishment
Modeste Mignon
Grandlieu, Duchesse Ferdinand de
Beatrix
A Daughter of Eve
Grandlieu, Mademoiselle de
A Bachelor's Establishment
Grandlieu, Vicomtesse de
Colonel Chabert
Gobseck
Grandlieu, Vicomte Juste de
Gobseck
Grandlieu, Vicomtesse Juste de
Gobseck
A Daughter of Eve
Granville, Vicomte de
The Gondreville Mystery
A Second Home
Farewell (Adieu)
Cesar Birotteau
A Daughter of Eve
Cousin Pons
Granville, Baron Eugene de
A Second Home
Grindot
Cesar Birotteau
Lost Illusions
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
A Start in Life
Beatrix
The Middle Classes
Cousin Betty
Herrera, Carlos
Lost Illusions
Katt
The Middle Classes
La Peyrade, Charles-Marie-Theodose de
The Middle Classes
La Peyrade, Madame de
The Middle Classes
Lebrun
Cousin Pons
Lenoncourt-Givry, Duchesse de
The Lily of the Valley
Letters of Two Brides
Louchard
Cousin Pons
Louis XVIII., Louis-Stanislas-Xavier
The Chouans
The Seamy Side of History
The Gondreville Mystery
The Ball at Sceaux
The Lily of the Valley
Colonel Chabert
The Government Clerks
Lousteau, Etienne
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
A Bachelor's Establishment
A Daughter of Eve
Beatrix
The Muse of the Department
Cousin Betty
A Prince of Bohemia
A Man of Business
The Middle Classes
The Unconscious Humorists
Lupeaulx, Clement Chardin des
The Muse of the Department
Eugenie Grandet
A Bachelor's Establishment
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
The Government Clerks
Ursule Mirouet
Madeleine
Cousin Pons
Marron
Lost Illusions
Massol
The Magic Skin
A Daughter of Eve
Cousin Betty
The Unconscious Humorists
Maufrigneuse, Duc de
The Secrets of a Princess
A Start in Life
A Bachelor's Establishment
Maufrigneuse, Duchesse de
The Secrets of a Princess
Modeste Mignon
Jealousies of a Country Town
The Muse of the Department
Letters of Two Brides
Another Study of Woman
The Gondreville Mystery
The Member for Arcis
Meynardie, Madame
The Thirteen
Mirbel, Madame de
Letters of Two Brides
The Secrets of a Princess
Montcornet, Marechal, Comte de
Domestic Peace
Lost Illusions
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
The Peasantry
A Man of Business
Cousin Betty
Nathan, Raoul
Lost Illusions
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
The Secrets of a Princess
A Daughter of Eve
Letters of Two Brides
The Seamy Side of History
The Muse of the Department
A Prince of Bohemia
A Man of Business
The Unconscious Humorists
Nathan, Madame Raoul
The Muse of the Department
Lost Illusions
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
The Government Clerks
A Bachelor's Establishment
Ursule Mirouet
Eugenie Grandet
The Imaginary Mistress
A Prince of Bohemia
A Daughter of Eve
The Unconscious Humorists
Navarreins, Duc de
A Bachelor's Establishment
Colonel Chabert
The Muse of the Department
The Thirteen
Jealousies of a Country Town
The Peasantry
The Country Parson
The Magic Skin
The Gondreville Mystery
The Secrets of a Princess
Cousin Betty
Nourrisson, Madame
Cousin Betty
The Unconscious Humorists
Nucingen, Baron Frederic de
The Firm of Nucingen
Father Goriot
Pierrette
Cesar Birotteau
Lost Illusions
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
Another Study of Woman
The Secrets of a Princess
A Man of Business
Cousin Betty
The Muse of the Department
The Unconscious Humorists
Nucingen, Baronne Delphine de
Father Goriot
The Thirteen
Eugenie Grandet
Cesar Birotteau
Melmoth Reconciled
Lost Illusions
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
The Commission in Lunacy
Modeste Mignon
The Firm of Nucingen
Another Study of Woman
A Daughter of Eve
The Member for Arcis
Peyrade
The Gondreville Mystery
Poiret, the elder
The Government Clerks
Father Goriot
A Start in Life
The Middle Classes
Poiret, Madame (nee Christine-Michelle Michonneau)
Father Goriot
The Middle Classes
Portenduere, Vicomte Savinien de
The Ball at Sceaux
Ursule Mirouet
Beatrix
Rastignac, Eugene de
Father Goriot
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
The Ball at Sceaux
The Commission in Lunacy
A Study of Woman
Another Study of Woman
The Magic Skin
The Secrets of a Princess
A Daughter of Eve
The Gondreville Mystery
The Firm of Nucingen
Cousin Betty
The Member for Arcis
The Unconscious Humorists
Rhetore, Duc Alphonse de
A Bachelor's Establishment
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
Letters of Two Brides
Albert Savarus
The Member for Arcis
Rubempre, Lucien-Chardon de
Lost Illusions
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
The Government Clerks
Ursule Mirouet
Schmucke, Wilhelm
A Daughter of Eve
Ursule Mirouet
Cousin Pons
Sechard, David
Lost Illusions
A Distinguished Provincial At Paris
Sechard, Madame David
Lost Illusions
A Distinguished Provincial At Paris
Selerier
Father Goriot
Serizy, Comte Hugret de
A Start in Life
A Bachelor's Establishment
Honorine
Modeste Mignon
Serizy, Comtesse de
A Start in Life
The Thirteen
Ursule Mirouet
A Woman of Thirty
Another Study of Woman
The Imaginary Mistress
Tours-Minieres, Bernard-Polydor Bryond, Baron des
The Seamy Side of History
Vernou, Felicien
A Bachelor's Establishment
Lost Illusions
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
A Daughter of Eve
Cousin Betty
Vivet, Madeleine
Cousin Pons
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