"I must tell you that we are as rich as Baron de Nucingen himself.But the 'Imitation of Jesus Christ' forbids us to regard our wealth as our own.We are only the spenders of it; and if we had any pride in being that, we should not be worthy of dispensing it.It would not be /transire benefaciendo/; it would be inward enjoyment.For if you say to yourself with a swelling of the nostrils, 'I play the part of Providence!' (as you might have thought if you had been in my place this morning and saved the future lives of a whole family), you would become a Sardanapalus,--an evil one! None of these gentlemen living here thinks of himself when he does good.All vanity, all pride, all self-love, must be stripped off, and that is hard to do,--yes, very hard."Godefroid bade him good-night, and returned to his own room, deeply affected by this narrative.But his curiosity was more whetted than satisfied, for the central figure of the picture was Madame de la Chanterie.The history of the life of that woman became of the utmost importance to him, so that he made the obtaining of it the object of his stay in that house.He already perceived in this association of five persons a vast enterprise of Charity; but he thought far less of that than he did of its heroine.
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