Chapter 15

SUZANNE

Morocco had been conquered; France, the mistress of Tangiers, had
guaranteed the debt of the annexed country. It was rumored that two
ministers, Laroche-Mathieu being one of them, had made twenty
millions.

As for Walter, in a few days he had become one of the masters of the
world--a financier more omnipotent than a king. He was no longer the
Jew, Walter, the director of a bank, the proprietor of a yellow
newspaper; he was M. Walter the wealthy Israelite, and he wished to
prove it.

Knowing the straitened circumstances of the Prince de Carlsbourg who
owned one of the fairest mansions on Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore,
he proposed to buy it. He offered three million francs for it. The
prince, tempted by the sum, accepted his offer; the next day, Walter
took possession of his new dwelling. Then another idea occurred to
him--an idea of conquering all Paris--an idea a la Bonaparte.

At that time everyone was raving over a painting by the Hungarian,
Karl Marcovitch, exhibited by Jacques Lenoble and representing
"Christ Walking on the Water." Art critics enthusiastically declared
it to be the most magnificent painting of the age. Walter bought it,
thereby causing entire Paris to talk of him, to envy him, to censure
or approve his action. He issued an announcement in the papers that
everyone was invited to come on a certain evening to see it.

Du Roy was jealous of M. Walter's success. He had thought himself
wealthy with the five hundred thousand francs extorted from his
wife, and now he felt poor as he compared his paltry fortune with
the shower of millions around him. His envious rage increased daily.
He cherished ill will toward everyone--toward the Walters, even
toward his wife, and above all toward the man who had deceived him,
made use of him, and who dined twice a week at his house. Georges
acted as his secretary, agent, mouthpiece, and when he wrote at his
dictation, he felt a mad desire to strangle him. Laroche reigned
supreme in the Du Roy household, having taken the place of Count de
Vaudrec; he spoke to the servants as if he were their master.
Georges submitted to it all, like a dog which wishes to bite and
dares not. But he was often harsh and brutal to Madeleine, who
merely shrugged her shoulders and treated him as one would a fretful
child. She was surprised, too, at his constant ill humor, and said:
"I do not understand you. You are always complaining. Your position
is excellent."

His only reply was to turn his back upon her. He declared that he
would not attend M. Walter's fete--that he would not cross the
miserable Jew's threshold. For two months Mme. Walter had written to
him daily, beseeching him to come to see her, to appoint a