“To-morrow, lease or no lease, Rocher de Cancale, half-past six o’clock.”

As for Dutocq, Cerizet saw him every day, for he was still his copying clerk; he therefore gave him his invitation by word of mouth; but the attentive reader must remark a difference in the hour named:  “Quarter-past-six, Rocher de Cancale,” said Cerizet.  It was evident, therefore, that he wanted that fifteen minutes with Dutocq before the arrival of la Peyrade.

These minutes the usurer proposed to employ in jockeying Dutocq in the purchase of the notes; he fancied that if the proposition to buy them were suddenly put before him without the slightest preparation it might be more readily received.  By not leaving the seller time to bethink himself, perhaps he might lead him to loosen his grasp, and the notes once bought below par, he could consider at his leisure whether to pocket the difference or curry favor with du Portail for the discount he had obtained.  Let us say, moreover, that apart from self-interest, Cerizet would still have endeavored to scrape a little profit out of his friend; ’twas an instinct and a need of his nature.  He had as great a horror for straight courses as the lovers of English gardens show in the lines of their paths.

Dutocq, having still a portion of the cost of his practice to pay off, was forced to live very sparingly, so that a dinner at the Rocher de Cancale was something of an event in the economy of his straitened existence.  He arrived, therefore, with that punctuality which testifies to an interest in the occasion, and precisely at a quarter past six he entered the private room of the restaurant where Cerizet awaited him.

“It is queer,” he said; “here we are returned to precisely the situation in which we began our business relationship with la Peyrade, —­except, to be sure, that this present place of meeting of the three emperors is more comfortable; I prefer the Tilsit of the rue Montgorgeuil to the Tilsit of the Cheval Rouge.”

“Faith!” said Cerizet, “I don’t know that the results justify the change, for, to be frank, where are the profits to us in the scheme of our triumvirate?”

“But,” said Dutocq, “it was a bargain with a long time limit.  It can’t be said that la Peyrade has lost much time in getting installed —­forgive the pun—­at the Thuilleries.  The scamp has made his way pretty fast, you must own that.”

“Not so fast but what his marriage,” said Cerizet, “is at the present moment a very doubtful thing.”

“Doubtful!” cried Dutocq; “why doubtful?”

“Well, I am commissioned to propose to him another wife, and I’m not sure that any choice is left to him.”

“What the devil are you about, my dear fellow, lending your hand in this way to another marriage when you know we have a mortgage on the first?”

“One isn’t always master of circumstances, my friend; I saw at once when the new affair was laid before me that the one we had settled on must infallibly go by the board.  Consequently, I’ve tried to work it round in our interests, yours and mine.”