“Do you know the name of that individual who has just entered her box?”
“That is Canalis.”
“Canalis, the great poet, who played such an important part in the life of Modeste Mignon?”
“Precisely.”
“I had thought that he was younger.”
“He has grown quite old during these last few years. He has turned his attention to politics, and you may notice how politics hollows the cheeks and silvers the hair of poetry. He would bankrupt Golconda, however, and he is now attempting to win Mlle. de Montsauf and her millions. But look to the left, in that first box from the door of the gallery, and see whether you do not recognize one of the most curious physiognomies of the ‘Comédie Humaine.’”
“Do you mean that stout woman?”
“Yes; it is Madame Nourrisau.”
“Vautrin’s aunt?”
“In flesh and blood, especially in flesh. There is the formidable hag who went one day to the son of the Baron Hulot and proposed, for fifty thousand francs, to rid him of Madame Marneffe. You must have read about it in ‘La Cousine Bette.’”