The Lesser Bourgeoisie

leste behave as to the option she had accepted? and this Comtesse Torna de Go

t more keenly drawn toward the conclusion of the second problem. He decided, therefore, to take his first step in that direc

the Madeleine. It may well be believed that certain cares had been bestowed upon his toilet, which ought to present a happy medium between the negligent ease of a morning costume and the ceremonious character of an evening suit. Condemned by his profession to a white cravat, which he rarely laid aside, and not venturing to present himself in anything but a d

the countess' entresol issuing from a hired cab, and from the first floor he feared to be discovered stopping

a service, and the wife had just gone up to show a vacant apartment to a lodger. Theodose was therefore able to glide unobserved to the door of the sanctuary he desired to penetrate. A soft touch of his hand to the silken bell-rope caused a sound which echoed from the interior of the apartment. A few secon

urned, and admitted him into the most coquettish and splendid salon it was possible to insert beneath the low ceilings of an entresol. The divinity of th

ur, to finish a letter of

ell. The maid appeared immediately and lighted a little spirit lamp; above the lamp was suspended a sort of tiny crucible, in which was a drop of sealing-wax; as soon as this had mel

er at once to

ade's feet. He stooped hastily to pick it up, and read the direction involuntarily. It bore the words, "His Excellency the Minister

to show his eagerness to serve her. "Be so good, mademoiselle, as to carry that in a way not to lose it," she added in a dry

wers of sulphur white with scarlet edges. In a corner was a stand of arms, of curious shapes and rich construction, explained, perhaps, by the lady's Hungarian nationality-always that of the hussar. A few bronzes and statuettes of exquisite selection, chairs rolling softly on Persian carpets, and a perfect anarchy of stuffs of all kinds completed the arrangement of this salon, which the lawyer had once before visited with Brigitte and Thuill

to the elbow through the wide, open sleeve of a black velvet dressing-gown, her Cinderella foot in its dainty slipper of Russia leather rest

charm to her words, "I cannot help thinking it rather droll that a man of

uitor interposes to break off a marriage which has been offered to me with every inducement; this rival does me the service of showing himself so miraculously stupid and awkward tha

hat the protege showed himself a most intelligent

cted to you," replied la Peyrade; "therefore the protecti

fected satire, "if your marriage with Mademoiselle Celeste were preven

an contempt, there was hatred. This expression did not escape an observer of la Peyrade's

ompromise with the future. When this compromise takes the form of a young girl with, I admit, more virtue than beauty, but one who brings to a husband the fortune which is ind

be the measure of his ambition; and I imagined that one so wise as to make himself, at firs

ge resignations. The question of daily bread is one of those before which all thin

as at least a royal fold; I don't think Apollo would h

ame; and la Peyrade understood that Madame de Godollo, out of pure clemency, had suppr

ion is a just one," he replied, "but

I always suspect such persons of trying to dupe me by some clever and complicated trick. You know very well, monsieur, your own value, and your hy

esent time life has never justified the

n the humility of a man who is willing to accept the pitiable fin

sarcasm, "ought to believe in the reality of a kindness

bbons of her gown; she lowered her eyes, and gave a sigh, so nearly imperceptible,

that I have taken the longest way round by meddling, rather ridiculously, in interests that do not concern me. Go on, my dear monsieur, in the path of this

efore imagine the perplexity of this novice in the matter of adventures when he saw himself placed between the danger of losing what seemed to be a delightful opportunity, and the fear of finding a serpent amid the beautiful flowers that were offered to his grasp. Too marked a reserve, too lukewarm an eagerness, might wound the self-love of that beautiful foreigner, and quench the spring from which he seemed invite

to Elmire that without receiving a few of the favors to which he aspired he could not trust in her tender advances, see

eerfully advancing to this marriage, and you take all faith in it away from me. Suppose I break

id that nothing freshens the blood so

at you deign to show to me cannot, I think, stop short at the idea of merely putting an end to my present prospects. I love Mademoiselle Collevil

d, in a more decided tone, "there would be some chance of making you see that in taking your first oppo

, I must be enabled to

anding pledges seemed t

g. You doubt yourself, and that is another form of stupidity. I am

to know in some remote way at least, what fut

itional confidence. Let us say no more. You are certainly far advanced with Mademoiselle Colleville; she s

on which you have lately raised my doubts. Do you not think there is something cruel in casti

pinion on the premises! Well, monsieur, there is one very conclu

de, humbly. "I felt that I was mak

rstand that when she had a chance to unite herself with true talent she ought to have felt highly honored! But, above all, try to make her miserable, odious family and surroundings understand it! Enriched bourgeois, parvenus! there's the roof beneath which you think to rest from your cruel labor and your many trials! And do you believe that you will not be made to feel, twenty times a day, that your share in the partnership is

uttered in a tone of heated conviction wh

n and again have entered my troubled and anxious mind! But I have felt my

rriage, to men of a high stamp, is either a chain which binds them to the lowest vulgarities of existence, or a wing on which to rise to the highest summits of the social world? The wife you need, monsieur,-and she would not be long wanting to your career if you had not, with such incredible haste, accepted the first 'dot' that was offered you,-the wife you should have chosen is a woman capable of understanding you, able to divine your intellect; one who could be

ed, her nostrils dilated; the prospect her vivid eloquence thus unrolled she seemed to see, and touch with he

de it his rule of life never to lend except on sound and so

raid that you are talking like a goddess. I admire you, I listen to you, but I am not convinced. Such devotions,

rare, but they are neither impossible nor incredible; only, it is necessary to have the

countess rose

and he felt that she dismissed him. He rose himself

most savages that we are, have a saying that when our door is open both sid

ded by this behavior, to him so new, which bore but little resemblance to that of Flavie, Brigitte, and Mada