Thus, at the first opportunity which had occurred to take him into a town, he was found ready.  He went as servant to a banker at Brioude.  There, in the service of this comparatively luxurious house, he got smoothed down a little, and lost some of his clumsy loutishness.  Strong as an ox, he did the work of two men, and at night, when in his garret, fell asleep learning to read.  He was seized by the ambition to get on.  No pains were to be spared to gain his goal.

His master having been elected a member of the Chamber of Deputies, Cayrol accompanied him to Paris.  Life in the capital finished the turmoil of Cayrol’s brain.  Seeing the prodigious activity of the great city on whose pavements fortunes sprang up in a day like mushrooms, the Auvergnat felt his moral strength equal to the occasion, and leaving his master, he became clerk to a merchant in the Rue du Sentier.

There, for four years, he studied commerce, and gained much experience.  He soon learned that it was only in financial transactions that large fortunes were to be rapidly made.  He left the Rue du Sentier, and found a place at a stock-broker’s.  His keen scent for speculation served him admirably.  After the lapse of a few years he had charge of the business.  His position was getting better; he was making fifteen thousand francs per annum, but that was nothing compared to his dreams.  He was then twenty-eight years of age.  He felt ready to do anything to succeed, except something unhandsome, for this lover of money would have died rather than enrich himself by dishonest means.

It was at this time that his lucky star threw him in Madame Desvarennes’s way.  The mistress, understanding men, guessed Cayrol’s worth quickly.  She was seeking a banker who would devote himself to her interests.  She watched the young man narrowly for some time; then, sure she was not mistaken as to his capacity, she bluntly proposed to give him money to start a business.  Cayrol, who had already saved eighty thousand francs, received twelve hundred thousand from Madame Desvarennes, and settled in the Rue Taitbout, two steps from the house of Rothschild.

Madame Desvarennes had made a lucky hit in choosing Cayrol as her confidential agent.  This short, thickset Auvergnat was a master of finance, and in a few years had raised the house to an unexpected degree of prosperity.  Madame Desvarennes had drawn considerable sums as interest on the money lent, and the banker’s fortune was already estimated at several millions.  Was it the happy influence of Madame Desvarennes that changed everything she touched into gold, or were Cayrol’s capacities really extraordinary?  The results were there and that was sufficient.  They did not trouble themselves over and above that.