Though Cerizet took the precaution to hide the money necessary for his morning operations in the hollow seat of the chair in which he sat, taking out no more than a hundred francs at a time, which he put in the pockets of his trousers, never dipping into the funds of the chair except between the entrance of two batches of clients (keeping his door locked and not opening it till all was safely stowed in his pockets), he had really nothing to fear from the various despairs which found their way from all sides to this rendezvous of misery.  Certainly, there are many different ways of being honest and virtuous; and the “Monograph of Virtue” has no other basis than this social axiom.[*] A man is false to his conscience; he fails, apparently, in delicacy; he forfeits that bloom of honor which, though lost, does not, as yet, mean general disrepute; at last, however, he fails decidedly in honor; if he falls into the hands of the correctional police, he is not, as yet, guilty of crime before the court of assizes; but after he is branded with infamy by the verdict of a jury he may still be honored at the galleys for the species of honor and integrity practised by criminals among themselves, which consists in not betraying each other, in sharing booty loyally, and in running all dangers.  Well, this last form of honor—­which is perhaps a calculation, a necessity, the practice of which offers certain opportunities for grandeur to the guilty man and the possibility of a return to good—­reigned absolutely between Cerizet and his clients.  Never did Cerizet make an error, nor his poor people either; neither side ever denied what was due, either capital or interests.  Many a time Cerizet, who was born among the people, corrected from one week to another some accidental error, to the benefit of a poor man who had never discovered it.  He was called a Jew, but an honest one, and his word in that city of sorrows was sacred.  A woman died, causing a loss to him of thirty francs: 

[*] A book on which the author has been at work since 1833, the year
    in which it was first announced.—­Author’s note.

“See my profits! there they go!” he said to his assemblage, “and you howl upon me!  You know I’ll never trouble the brats; in fact, Cadenet has already taken them bread and heel-taps.”

After that it was said of him in both faubourgs:—­

“He is not a bad fellow!”

The “loan by the little week,” as interpreted by Cerizet, is not, considering all things, so cruel a thing as the pawn-shop.  Cerizet loaned ten francs Tuesday on condition of receiving twelve francs Sunday morning.  In five weeks he doubled his capital; but he had to make many compromises.  His kindness consisted in accepting, from time to time, eleven francs and fifty centimes; sometimes the whole interest was still owing.  When he gave fifty francs for sixty to a fruit-stall man, or a hundred francs for one hundred and twenty to a seller of peat-fuel, he ran great risks.