Now, you had better look after its
success yourself; it is the surest way. You will make allies in every
clique, and secure applause beforehand. I mean to go halves in your
glory myself; I shall be the jeweler who set the diamonds in your
crown. Come here to-morrow evening, by way of a beginning. I will
introduce you to a house where all Paris goes, all OUR Paris, that is
--the Paris of exquisites, millionaires, celebrities, all the folk who
talk gold like Chrysostom. When they have taken up a book, that book
becomes the fashion; and if it is something really good for once, they
will have declared it to be a work of genius without knowing it. If you
have any sense, my dear fellow, you will ensure the success of your
"Theory," by a better understanding of the theory of success. To-morrow
evening you shall go to see that queen of the moment--the beautiful
Countess Foedora. . . .'
"'I have never heard of her. . . .'
"'You Hottentot!' laughed Rastignac; 'you do not know Foedora? A
great match with an income of nearly eighty thousand livres, who has
taken a fancy to nobody, or else no one has taken a fancy to her. A
sort of feminine enigma, a half Russian Parisienne, or a half Parisian
Russian. All the romantic productions that never get published are
brought out at her house; she is the handsomest woman in Paris, and
the most gracious! You are not even a Hottentot; you are something
between the Hottentot and the beast.
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