But evening found them gathered together like conspirators, and
then they had no thoughts apart; riches, like the wealth of the Old
Man of the Mountain, they possessed in common; they had their feet in
every salon, their hands in every strong box, their elbows in the
streets, their heads upon all pillows, they did not scruple to help
themselves at their pleasure. No chief commanded them, nobody was
strong enough. The liveliest passion, the most urgent need took
precedence--that was all. They were thirteen unknown kings; unknown,
but with all the power and more than the power of kings; for they were
both judges and executioners, they had taken wings that they might
traverse the heights and depths of society, scorning to take any place
in it, since all was theirs. If the author learns the reason of their
abdication, he will communicate it.
And now the author is free to give those episodes in the History of
the Thirteen which, by reason of the Parisian flavor of the details or
the strangeness of the contrasts, possessed a peculiar attraction for
him.
Paris
THE THIRTEEN
I.
FERRAGUS,
CHIEF OF THE DEVORANTS
BY
HONORE DE BALZAC
Translated by
Katharine Prescott Wormeley
DEDICATION
To Hector Berlioz.
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