Sarrasine - Honore de Balzac - Bog

They lowered their voices and walked away in order to talk more at their ease on some retired couch. Never was a more promising mine laid open to seekers after mysteries. No one knew from what country the Lanty family came, nor to what source--commerce, extortion, piracy, or inheritance--they owed a fortune estimated at several millions. All the members of the family spoke Italian, French, Spanish, English, and German.