‘You are the manager here in England?’

’No,—­I am a member of the firm that manages it at San Francisco; but the real manager here is our chairman, Mr Melmotte.’

’Ah I have heard of him.  He is a great man;—­a Frenchman, is he not?  There was a talk of inviting him to California.  You know him, of course?’

‘Yes,—­I know him.  I see him once a week.’

’I would sooner see that man than your Queen, or any of your dukes or lords.  They tell me that he holds the world of commerce in his right hand.  What power;—­what grandeur!’

‘Grand enough,’ said Paul, ‘if it all came honestly.’

‘Such a man rises above...