The gendarme, required to love a woman ten years older than himself
who kept the management of her fortune in her own hands, behaved to
her in the spirit of the ideas she had ended by adopting about her
beauty. But sometimes, when persons envied him or talked to him of his
happiness, he wished they were in his place, for, to hide his
peccadilloes, he was forced to take as many precautions as the husband
of a young and adoring wife; and it was not until very recently that
he had been able to introduce into the family a pretty servant-girl.

This portrait of the Queen of Soulanges may seem a little grotesque,
but many specimens of the same kind could be found in the provinces at
that period,--some more or less noble in blood, others belonging to
the higher banking-circles, like the widow of a receiver-general in
Touraine who still puts slices of veal upon her cheeks. This portrait,
drawn from nature, would be incomplete without the diamonds in which
it is set; without the surrounding courtiers, a sketch of whom is
necessary, if only to explain how formidable such Lilliputians are,
and who are the makers of public opinion in remote little towns. Let
no one mistake me, however; there are many localities which, like
Soulanges, are neither hamlets, villages, nor little towns, which
have, nevertheless, the characteristics of all. The inhabitants are
very different from those of the large and busy and vicious provincial
cities. Country life influences the manners and morals of the smaller
places, and this mixture of tints will be found to produce some truly
original characters.

The most important personage after Madame Soudry was Lupin, the
notary. Though forty-five springs had bloomed for Lupin, he was still
fresh and rosy, thanks to the plumpness which fills out the skin of
sedentary persons; and he still sang ballads. Also, he retained the