“No, monsieur,” said Birotteau.

Then followed a discussion on Birotteau’s interests in the house of Popinot, from which it appeared that Popinot had the right to have all his advances paid in full, and that he was not involved in the failure to the amount of half the costs of his establishment, due to him by Birotteau.  Molineux, judiciously handled by Pillerault, insensibly got back to gentler ways, which only showed how he cared for the opinion of those who frequented the cafe David.  He ended by offering consolation to Birotteau, and by inviting him, as well as Pillerault, to share his humble dinner.  If the ex-perfumer had gone alone, he would probably have irritated Molineux, and the matter would have become envenomed.  In this instance, as in others, old Pillerault was his tutelary angel.

Commercial law imposes a horrible torture upon the bankrupt; he is compelled to appear in person at the meeting of his creditors, when they decide upon his future fate.  For a man who can hold himself above it all, or for a merchant who expects to recover himself, this ceremony is little feared.  But to a man like Cesar Birotteau it was agony only to be compared to the last day of a criminal condemned to death.  Pillerault did all in his power to make that terrible day endurable to his nephew.

The steps taken by Molineux, and agreed to by the bankrupt, were as follows:  The suit relating to the mortgage on the property in the Faubourg du Temple having been won in the courts, the assignees decided to sell that property, and Cesar made no opposition.  Du Tillet, hearing privately that the government intended to cut a canal which should lead from Saint-Denis to the upper Seine through the Faubourg du Temple, bought the property of Birotteau for seventy thousand francs.  All Cesar’s rights in the lands about the Madeleine were turned over to Monsieur Claparon, on condition that he on his side would abandon all claim against Birotteau for half the costs of drawing up and registering the contracts; also for all payments on the price of the lands, by receiving himself, under the failure, the dividend which was to be paid over to the sellers.  The interests of the perfumer in the house of Popinot and Company were sold to the said Popinot for the sum of forty-eight thousand francs.  The business of “The Queen of Roses” was bought by Celestin Crevel at fifty-seven thousand francs, with the lease, the fixtures, the merchandise, furniture, and all rights in the Paste of Sultans and the Carminative Balm, with twelve years’ lease of the manufactories, whose various appliances were also sold to him.  The assets when liquidated came to one hundred and ninety-five thousand francs, to which the assignees added seventy thousand produced by Birotteau’s claims in the liquidation of the “unfortunate” Roguin.  Thus the total amount made over to Cesar’s creditors was two hundred and fifty-five thousand francs.  The debts amounted to four hundred and forty thousand; consequently, the creditors received more than fifty per cent on their claims.