The Two Brothers

ad given the little peasant-girl the material pleasures which are the ideal of happiness to country-folk. When Fanchette asked Flore, after the funeral, "Well, what is to become of you, no

aid to Fanchette, who

of the field. Nevertheless, the tendency to embonpoint, which handsome countrywomen develop when they no longer live a life of toil and hardship in the fields and in the sunshine, was already noticeable about her. Her bust ha

in a trembling voice, "you

onsieur

re, who was quite unable even to suspect his simplicity of mind, looked at her future master and waited for a time, expecting Jean-Jacques to go on with what he was saying; but she finally left him without knowing what to thin

e last of the Condes under worse circumstances than the Rabouilleuse. There are two species of timidity,-the timidity of the mind, and the timidity of the nerves; a physical timidity, and a moral timidity. The one is independent of the other. The body may fear and tremble, while the mind is calm and courageous, or vice versa. This is the key to many moral eccentricities. When the two are united in one man, that man w

never brought himself to court, as the saying is, any woman in Issoudun. Certainly no young girl or matron would make advances to a young man of mean stature, awkward and shame-faced in attitude; whose vulgar face, with its flattened features and pallid skin, making him look old before his time, was rendered still more hideous by a pair of large and prominent light-green eyes. The presence of a woman stultified the poor fellow, who was driven by pas

doctor hesitated. Was it not practically giving the whole management of the property into the hands of a stranger, some unknown girl? The doctor knew how difficult it was to gain true indications of the moral character of a woman from any study of a young girl. So, while h

ood deal like dissimulation, and is equally secretive. Jean-Jacques was passionately in love with the Rabouilleuse. Nothing, of course, could be more natural. Flore was the only woman who lived in the bachelor's presence, the only one he could see at his ease; and at all hours he secretly contemplated her and watched her. To him, she was the light of his paternal home; she gave him, unknown to herself, the only pleasures that brightened his

munication; but although he kept near her, and looked at her on the sly with passionate glances, Jean-Jacques sti

life here?" h

onsieur

stay he

u, Monsie

the house, Flore, who chanced to wake up, heard the regular breathing of human lungs outsid

t he will get the rheumatism if

stinctive love had touched her; she no longer thought the poor ninny so ugly, though h

ve in the fields, do you?" said J

e that?" she said

uget, turning the col

to send me ba

ademoi

ou want to know? Yo

want t

" said

ell me?" exc

ill, on

ouget, with a frightened ai

take m

you,

hear me t

you were when your uncle br

, faith!" cried

ore, amazed at such an encouraging sign from a man who h

eemed to regard the dessert as a field of batt

anything a

answered, "No-" (a pa

he other day to hear

know-" (a pause) "But

aid, "I will tell y

t-my father?" he aske

was nothing in it. But, poor dear man, it wasn't the will that was wanting. The truth is, he had some spite again

r, taking her hand, "as my

o me?" she cried, as if offend

ut just

as all. Ah! he would have lik

e had snatched away from him, "if he was nothi

," she said, dr

is here shall be yours; you shall take care of my property, it is almost yours now-for I lov

ce became embarrassing, Jean-Jacques

warmth, "wouldn't it be better

Monsieur Jean,

the first woman who accepts them. We can only guess at circumstances by results. Ten months after the death of his father, Jean-Jacques changed completely; his leaden face cleared, and his whole countenance breathed happiness. Flore exacted that he should take minute car

ews?" people said to

t is

verything from his fathe

octor was wicked enough to p

easure, that's certa

very handsome, and she

t girl has had

only comes to

ve heard of Mademoiselle Ganivet? she was as ugly as seven capital sin

that was

r left him a good forty thousand francs' inco

it, but she would not consent

are very happy with

r wife

, they ended by praising Flore for devoting herself to the poor fellow. We now see how it was that Flore Brazier obtained the management of the Rouget

ated by having, at her age, a crab-girl for a mistress,-a child who had been brought barefoot into the house. Fanchette owned three hundred francs a year in the Funds, for the doctor made her invest her savings in that way, and he had left her as much more in an annuity; s

rthy of cooking for a doctor. In the matter of choice living, doctors are on a par with bishops. The doctor had brought Fanchette's talents to perfection. In the provinces the lack of occupation and the monotony of existence turn all activity of mind towards the kitchen. People do not dine as luxuriousl

beaten together with the violence which cooks usually put into the operation. He considered that the whites should be beaten to a froth and the yolks gently added by degrees; moreover a frying-pan should never be used, but a "cagnard" of porcelain or earthenware. The "cagnard" is a species of thick dish standing on four feet, so that when it is placed on the stove the air cir

e avalanches of soiled linen and the floods of water that go by the name of "the wash," which was done, according to provincial usage, three times a year. She kept a housewifely eye to the linen, and mended it carefully. Then, desirous of learning little by little the secret of the family property, she acquired the very limited business knowledge which Rouget possessed, and increased it by conversations with the notary of the late doctor, Monsieur Heron. Thus instructed, she gave excellent advice to her little Jean-Jacques

and came home at three in the afternoon to read the papers,-those of the department, and a journal from Paris which he received three days after publication, well greased by the thirty hands through which it came, browned by the snuffy noses that had pored over it, and soiled by the various tables on which it had lain. The old bachelor thus got through the day until it was time for dinner; over that meal he spe

hts in case the owner was married. He never lent more than a third of the value of the property, and required notes payable to his order for an additional interest of two and a half per cent spread over the whole duration of the loan. Such were the rules his father had told him to follow. Usury, that clog upon the ambition of the peasantry, is the de

t the house and managed all its business. Jean-Jacques left everything to the crab-girl so completely that life without her would have seemed to him not only difficult, but impossible. In every way, this woman had become the one need of his existence; she indulged all his fancies, for she knew them well. He loved to see her bright face always smiling at him,-the only face that had ever smiled upon him, the only one to which he could look for a smile. This happiness, a purely material happiness, expressed in the homely words which come readiest to the tongue in a Berrichon household, and visible on the fine countenance of the young woman, was like a reflection of his own inward conte

e latter's imperial dignity. Flore had the dazzling white round arms, the ample modelling, the satiny textures of the skin, the alluring though less rigidly correct outlines of the great actress. Her expression was one of sweetness and tenderness; but her glance commanded less respect than that of the noblest Agrippina that ever trod the French stage since the days of Racine: on the contrary, it evok

uilleuse. He asked nothing better for his future prosperity than to take up his abode at the Rouget's, recognizing perfectly the feeble nature of the old bachelor. Flore's passion necessarily affected the life and household affairs of her master. For a month the old man, now grown excessively timid, saw the laughing and kindly face of his mistress change to something ter

y of money! He's forced to sit on a stool all day in the mayor's office to earn-what? Six hundred miserable francs,-a fine thing, indeed! And here are you, with six hundred and fifty-nine thousand well invested, and sixty thousand francs' income,-thanks to me, who never spend more than three thousand a year, everything included, even my own clothes, yes, everything!-and you never think of offering him a home here, though there's the

, Fl

t, God be thanked! cost you one penny during the twelve years I've been with you, and you have had the pleasure of my company into the bargain. I could have earned my own living anywhere with the work that

, Fl

, fifty-one years old, and getting feeble,-for the way your health is f

, Fl

me al

and seemed to shake it to its foundations. Jean-Jacques softly opened the door

first time I have heard of this wish of yours; h

ly enough to defend her master. Well! if the robbers knew there was a man in the house as brave as Caesar and who wasn't born yesterday,-for Max could swallow three burglars as quick as a flash,-well, then I should sleep easy. People may tell you a lot of stuff,-that I love him, that I adore him,-and some say this

e,-Fl

y little Flore,' they say, 'why won't you leave that old fool of a Rouget,'-for that's what they call you. 'I leave him!' I always an

ake me happy. If it will give you pleasure, my dear, we

I should

ere! don't

nd manage to meet Monsieur Gilet and invite him to dinner. If he makes excuses, tell him it will give me pleasure; he is too polite to refuse. And after dinner, at dessert, if he tells you about his misfort

woman? Should he marry? At his age he should be married for his money, and a legitimate wife would use him far more cruelly than Flore. Besides, the thought of being deprived of her tenderness, even if it were a mere

a wonderfully clever and artful creature. Old Rouget really found himself very comfortable after Max became the master of his house; for he thus gained a companion who paid him many attentions, without, however, showing any servility. Gilet talked, discussed politics, and sometimes went to walk with Rouget. After Max was fairly installed, Flore did not choose to do the cooking; she said it spoiled her hands. At the request of the grand master of the Order of the Knights of Idleness, Mere Cognette pr

ess of her appearance. She was like a rough diamond, that needed cutting and mounting by a jeweller to bring out its full value. Her desire was to do honor to Max. At the end of the first year, in 1817, she brought a horse, styled English, from Bourges, for the poor cavalry captain, who was weary of going afoot. Max had picked up in the purlieus of Issoudun an old lancer of the Imperial