He never missed either ball or theater
at which she was present.
"You haven't powder enough, my boy, to blow up that rock," said de
Marsay, laughing.
That young king of fashion, who did, out of commiseration for the lad,
endeavor to explain to him the nature of Emilie de Fontaine, merely
wasted his words; the gloomy lights of misfortune and the twilight of
a prison were needed to convince Savinien.
A note, imprudently given to a jeweler in collusion with the
money-lenders, who did not wish to have the odium of arresting the
young man, was the means of sending Savinien de Portenduere, in default
of one hundred and seventeen thousand francs and without the knowledge
of his friends, to the debtor's prison at Sainte-Pelagie. So soon as
the fact was known Rastignac, de Marsay, and Lucien de Rubempre went to
see him, and each offered him a banknote of a thousand francs when
they found how really destitute he was. Everything belonging to him
had been seized except the clothes and the few jewels he wore. The
three young men (who brought an excellent dinner with them) discussed
Savinien's situation while drinking de Marsay's wine, ostensibly to
arrange for his future but really, no doubt, to judge of him.
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