“Anselme, your future, your happiness, demand this confidence; but you must let it die in your heart, just as it is dead in mine and in Cesar’s.  Do you not remember how my husband scolded us for an error in the accounts?  Monsieur Birotteau, to avoid a police-court which might have destroyed the man for life, no doubt placed in the desk three thousand francs,—­the price of that cashmere shawl which I did not receive till three years later.  All this explains the scene.  Alas! my dear child, I must admit my foolishness; du Tillet wrote me three love-letters, which pictured him so well that I kept them,” she said, lowering her eyes and sighing, “as a curiosity.  I have not re-read them more than once; still, it was imprudent to keep them.  When I saw du Tillet just now I was reminded of them, and I came upstairs to burn them; I was looking over the last as you came in.  That’s the whole story, my friend.”

Anselme knelt for a moment beside her and kissed her hand with an unspeakable emotion, which brought tears into the eyes of both; Madame Cesar raised him, stretched out her arms and pressed him to her heart.

* * * * *

This day was destined to be a day of joy to Cesar.  The private secretary of the king, Monsieur de Vandenesse, called at the Sinking-Fund Office to find him.  They walked out together into the little courtyard.

“Monsieur Birotteau,” said the Vicomte de Vandenesse, “your efforts to pay your creditors in full have accidentally become known to the king.  His Majesty, touched by such rare conduct, and hearing that through humility you no longer wear the cross of the Legion of honor, has sent me to command you to put it on again.  Moreover, wishing to help you in meeting your obligations, he has charged me to give you this sum from his privy purse, regretting that he is unable to make it larger.  Let this be a profound secret.  His Majesty thinks it derogatory to the royal dignity to have his good deeds divulged,” said the private secretary, putting six thousand francs into the hand of the poor clerk, who listened to this speech with unutterable emotion.  The words that came to his lips were disconnected and stammering.  Vandenesse waved his hand to him, smiling, and went away.

The principle which actuated poor Cesar is so rare in Paris that his conduct by degrees attracted admiration.  Joseph Lebas, Popinot the judge, Camusot, the Abbe Loraux, Ragon, the head of the important house where Cesarine was employed, Lourdois, Monsieur de la Billardiere, and others, talked of it.  Public opinion, undergoing a change, now lauded him to the skies.

“He is indeed a man of honor!” The phrase even sounded in Cesar’s ears as he passed along the streets, and caused him the emotion an author feels when he hears the muttered words:  “That is he!” This noble recovery of credit enraged du Tillet.  Cesar’s first thought on receiving the bank-notes sent by the king was to use them in paying the debt still due to his former clerk.  The worthy man went to the Rue de la Chaussee d’Antin just as the banker was returning from the Bourse; they met upon the stairway.