He set out again for his estate at Arnonville, more anxious than ever about the future.
If the first steps of M.de Calonne dismayed men of foresight and of experience in affairs, the public was charmed with them, no less than the courtiers.

The _bail des fermes_ was re-established, the _Caisse d'escompte_ had resumed payment, the stockholders (_rentiers_) received their quarters' arrears, the loan whereby the comptroller-general met all expenses had reached eleven per cent.

"A man who wants to borrow," M.de Calonne would say, "must appear rich, and to appear rich he must dazzle by his expenditure.

Act we thus in the public administration.

Economy is good for nothing, it warns those who have money, not to lend it to an indebted treasury, and it causes decay among the arts which prodigality vivifies." New works, on a gigantic scale, were undertaken everywhere.
"Money abounds in the kingdom," the comptroller-general would remark to the king; "the people never had more openings for work; lavishness rejoices their eyes, because it sets their hands going.