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Rh psalmody. The tumult and pushing became so great that the wealthy Verbist, supreme admiral of a fleet of twenty merchant vessels, deigned to inquire of his broker the cause of the commotion.

"What is it all about, Claessens?"

"A shark whom they're calling for his margins, sir. They say he's a pretty hard case!"

Verbist, his face puffed and bloated, wan as a dropsical star, smiled lugubriously, shrugged his shoulders in a singular way, and, as a spectator who was accustomed to this species of execution, and who no longer bothered about the bankrupts among his colleagues, did not ask the name of the hapless speculator, but continued to pick his teeth with the greatest possible comfort.

It was, however, the gentle, suave, unique Dupoissy who was being so sharply taken to task. Chance had willed it that he was to completely wreck himself on the very day that Béjard, his master and employer, was victoriously doubling the cape of ruin. His intimacy with Béjard had given him faith in his own star. And the satellite had believed himself a planet. He had taken himself for an eagle, merely because he was volatile, had wished to fly with his own wings. On the day that rumors of Béjard's imminent discomfiture began to circulate, Dupoissy had dropped him with the ease of a lackey. Moreover, Béjard, having been apprised of the slimy creature's treason, did nothing to retain him.

During Béjard's prosperity, Dupoissy had obtained large commissions, and he, who had never before had a penny to his name, either in his own country or elsewhere, found himself in possession of a quite considerable capital. Instead of establishing himself, for