He came near dying of
exhaustion and sorrow, very near the city of his birth. He found there
Madame de Bargeton, then the wife of Comte Sixte du Chatelet, prefect
of Charente and a state councilor. Despite the warm reception given
him, first by a laudatory article in a local newspaper, and next by a
serenade from his young fellow-citizens, he left Angouleme hastily,
desperate at having been responsible for the ruin of his brother-in-law,
David Sechard, and contemplating suicide. While walking along he
chanced upon Canon Carlos Herrera (Jacques Collin--Vautrin), who took
him to Paris and became the guardian of his future career. In 1824,
while passing an evening at the theatre Porte-Saint-Martin, Rubempre
became acquainted with Esther Van Gobseck, called La Torpille, a
courtesan. They were both seized at once with a violent love. A little
later, at the last Opera ball of the winter of 1824, they would have
compromised their security and pleasure if it had not been for the
interference of Jacques Collin, called Vautrin, and if Lucien had not
denied certain people the pleasure of satisfying their ill-willed
curiosity, by agreeing to take supper at Lointier's.
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