Rastignac, who
wanted to return to power, made common cause with Nucingen and du
Tillet. The others felt a satisfaction in the catastrophe of an equal
who had attempted to make himself their master. None of them, however,
would have said a word to Florine; on the contrary, they praised Raoul
to her.
"Nathan," they said, "has the shoulders of an Atlas; he'll pull
himself through; all will come right."
"There were two new subscribers yesterday," said Blondet, gravely.
"Raoul will certainly be elected deputy. As soon as the budget is
voted the dissolution is sure to take place."
But Nathan, sued, could no longer obtain even usury; Florine, with all
her personal property attached, could count on nothing but inspiring a
passion in some fool who might not appear at the right moment.
Nathan's friends were all men without money and without credit. An
arrest for debt would destroy his hopes of a political career; and
besides all this, he had bound himself to do an immense amount of
dramatic work for which he had already received payment. He could see
no bottom to the gulf of misery that lay before him, into which he was
about to roll. In presence of such threatened evil his boldness
deserted him. Would the Comtesse de Vandenesse stand by him? Would she
fly with him? Women are never led into a gulf of that kind except by
an absolute love, and the love of Raoul and Marie had not bound them
together by the mysterious and inalienable ties of happiness.
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