The Two Brothers

ched by degrees a condition that was semi-vegetative. In the first place, after Max's instalment, Flore put the table on an episcopal footing. Rouget, thrown in the w

he was never better in his life. As he had always been thought extremely deficient in mind, people did not notice the constant lowering of his faculties. His love for Flore was the one thing that kept him alive; in fact, he existed only for her, and his weakn

t wallpapers, mahogany furniture, mirrors in gilt frames, muslin curtains with red borders, a bed with a canopy, and draperies arranged as the provincial upholsterers arrange them for a rich bride; which in the eyes of Issoudun seemed the height of luxury, but are so common in vulgar fashion-plates that even the petty shopkeepers in Paris have discarded them at the

uff with narrow pink stripes, a lace cap on her head, and her feet in furred slippers, softly

ee. He must have a good constitution to stand such amusements. I

rained by the necessities of war to have his wits and his self-possessi

leepy; I'l

e's something s

o some mischie

never told me he had a family! Well, his family are comi

ake him well

my coffee; I'll take it in bed, where I'll think over what we had better do. Come back

his coffee; but a quarter of an hour later, Baruch bur

unting for

untered along with apparent indifference, he soon reached the foot

ing his way through the crow

rer in Naples. He seemed gentle because he was calm, quiet, and slow in his movements; and for this reason people commonly called him "goodman Fario." But his skin-the color of gingerbread-and

is grievance, "that you brought your cart to this pla

it jus

nessed to it, hasn't

pointing to the animal, which

tom of the tower at the top of the embankment could be seen,-the crowd being at th

sly put a cart in his p

ockets, all of y

des. Fario swore. Oaths, with a Spania

art light?"

augh at me had it on their feet, thei

Max, "for look there!" pointing to the foot

ment there was a perfect uproar in the market-place. Each man

o the astonished Spaniard. "He means to teach you not to leave you

d hooted, for Fario was

go up to the tower and see how your barrow got there. Thu

le to stand back, and make sure there is nobody at th

that no damage to the embankment, nor even trace of the passage of the barrow, could be seen. Fario began to imagine witchcraft, and l

yes began for the first time to show fear; while his swarthy yell

. "Why, that's

ow by the shafts with his robust arms and prepared to fling it down, ca

retired to a distance from which they could see more clearly what went on at the top of the

ve got it down

!" cried Fario; "perhaps it w

ree comrades began to lau

g the damned thing I came very near flinging myself after it; an

h rage. "My cart will be the cab in which you shall drive to the devil!-unless

that," said Max, b

first hilarious group, Max took Fario by

if you will give me two hundred and fifty francs; but

became as cool as though

to replace my barrow, and it will be the be

Baruch, who knew that the blow would descend on others besides the Sp

mmit such

alled to order, began to

barrow, and you in return try

. "But I am glad to know

aid a spectator of the scene, who did

lending me a hand," cried the Spaniard, as he kicked t

you," shouted a wheelwright, who had com

emarked,-for it went the round of Berry, where the speeches of Fario and Max were repeated, and at the end of a week the affair, greatly to the Spaniard's satisfaction, was still the talk of the three departments and the subject of endless gossip. In consequence of the vindictive Spaniard's terr

ues," he said at last. "A

taking his arm. "The

y! W

ther has just had a lett

daus. If these heirs are to be got rid of, it is for you Hochons to drive them out of Issoudun. Find out what sort of people they are. To-mo

to his cousin Francois, as they turned into Monsieur Hocho

tones with which she decked her conversation,-"my kitten," "my old darling," "my bibi," "my rat," etc. A "you," cold and sharp and ironically respectful, cut like the blade of a knife through the heart of the miserable old bachelor. The "you" was a declaration of war. Instead of helping the poor man with his toilet, handing him what he wanted, forestalling his wishes, looking at him with the sort of admiration which all women know how to express, and which, in some cases, the coarse

old man asked himself that morning, as he got one o

p the hot wate

fear of the anger that was crushing him. "Vedi

master and Vedie and Kouski

and you may say I have no right to poke my nose into your affairs; but I do say you may search through all the women in the world, like that king in holy Scripture, and you won't find

ness and severity worked upon this feeble creature whose only life was through his amorous fibre, the same morbid effect which great changes from tropical heat to arctic cold produce up

aved yet?" she said,

d from being pale and cast down he grew red for an insta

come down as you are, in dressing-gown and slip

hment he dreaded most; he loved to talk to her as he ate his meals. When he got to the fo

her or not. "Confound the old wretch! he is able enough to get over it wi

e poor man sat down in deep distress at a corner of the table in the middle of the

you think it is pleasant for people to see such a neck as

ig light-green eyes, full of tears, to his torm

s as much your sister as I am sister of the tower of Issoudun, if one's to believe your father, and who has

ews coming to Issoudun

l have shaken the dust of it off ours. Max and I will be gone, never to return. As for your will, I'll tear it in quarters under your nose, and to your very beard-do you hear? Leave your property to your family, if you don't thi

ster, or my nephews. I swear to you this is the first word I have heard of

get's words, entered suddenly,

s all

wear by all that is most sacred, that I now hear this news for the first time. I have never written to my sister; my father made me promise not

phews. You owe it to yourself to welcome them, and you owe it to us as well. What would people say in Issoudun? Thunder! I've got enough upon my shoulders as it is, without hearing people say that we shut you up and don't allow you a will of your o

ble. Old Rouget, full of admiration for Max, took him by both hand

love you. Flore is right: you two are my real family. You ar

rangements you have made about your property," said Max. "In that way you will do

almi is getting cold. Come, my old rat, here's a

oughing; for the joy of being taken back to favor excited as violent an emotion as the punishment itself. Flore rose, pulled a little cashmere shawl from her own shoulders, and

ile Flore went to fetch a black velvet cap to

x, "but she is quick-tempered, like all pe

ey are perched, when any interest, no matter what, draws them from their own line of obedience and induces them to grasp at power. In their eyes, as in those of politicians, all means to an end are justifiable. Between Flore Brazier and a duchess, between a duchess and the richest bourgeoise, between a bourgeoise and the most luxuriously kept mistress, there are

o came to listen, exploded in the kitchen, and as to Flore, she laughed convulsively. After breakfast, while Jean-Jacques

e any other will since the one in

ing to write wit

will be only too glad to make the transfers; it is grist to their mill. The Funds are going up; we shall conquer Spain, and deliver Ferdinand VII. and the Cortez, and then they will be above par. You and I coul

l idea!"

ake him borrow one hundred and forty thousand francs for two years, to be paid back in two instalments. In

handsome Max, what would b

I have seen the Parisians, I shall find a way t

ve got, my angel! You

of the room where Madame Hochon usually sat, it was easy to see what went on at the Rouget household, and vice versa, when the curtains were drawn back or the doors were left open. The Hochon house was like the Rouget house, and the two were doubtless built by the same architect. Monsieur Hochon, formerly tax-collector at Selles in Berry, born, however, at Issoudun, had returned to his native place and married the sister of the sub-delegate, the gay Lousteau, e

in as guardian,-for the purpose, of course, of making his daughter's dowry secure. On the day of the dinner, which was given to celebrate the signing of the marriage contract, the chief relations of the two families were assembled in the salon, the Hochons on one side, the Borniches on the other,-all in their best clothes. While the contract was being solemnly read aloud by young Heron, the notary, the cook came

the wife's stipend." He complained bitterly of the poor quality of the cloth manufactured now-a-days, and called attention to the fact that his coat had lasted only ten years. Tall, gaunt, thin, and sallow; saying little, reading little, and doing nothing to fatigue himself; as observant of forms as an oriental,-he enfo

ir-presumptive, who was killed at Hanau, had married early in life a rich woman, intending thereby to escape all conscriptions; but after he was enrolled, he wasted his substance, under a presentiment of his en

d vermin. Madame Hochon now directed that everything should be cleaned; the wall-paper, which had peeled off in places, was fastened up again with wafers; and she decorated the windows with little curtains which she pieced together from old hoards of her own. Her husband having refused to let her buy a strip of drugget, she laid down her own bedside carpet for her little Agathe,-"Poor little thing!" as she called the mother, who was now over forty-seven years old. Madame Hochon borrowed two night-tables from a neighbor, and boldly hired two chests of drawers with brass handles from a dealer in second-hand furni

ted by the trick on Fario, Madame Hocho

making sure that her grandchildren were out of hearing, she added: "I am mistress of my own

, in a mild voice, "that, at my age, I

rafty old thing! Be friendly to our gu

from your dear Agathe! Ah! you've warmed a viper in your bosom th

, a woman still erect and spare, wearing a round cap with ribbon knots and her hair powdered, a taffet petticoat of changeable color

e of mind, and Agathe the property which she ought to have had from her father. Max Gilet is not the son of my brother,

to be brought up on a criminal indictment before the Court of Peers for a conspiracy worthy of Berton. As for the other, he is worse off; he's a painter. If your proteges are

you had better wish they may no

ch; it was only with difficulty that she got there on Sundays and holidays. Since receiving her goddaughter's letter she had added a petition to her usual prayers, supplicating God to open the eyes of Jean-Jacques Rouget, and to bless Agathe and prosper the expedition into which she hers

d methodical customs,-had undertaken her neuvaine all the more willingly because she hoped to inspire some feeling in Joseph Bridau, in

tempt with which the conduct of Maxence Gilet had long inspired them. Thus the news of the arrival of Rouget's sister and nephew raised two parties in Issoudun,-that of the higher and older bourgeoisie, who contented themselves w