elegant evening dress of society warblers. He looked almost Parisian
in his carefully-varnished boots, his sulphur-yellow waistcoats, his
tight-fitting coats, his handsome silk cravats, his fashionable
trousers. His hair was curled by the barber of Soulanges (the gossip
of the town), and he maintained the attitude of a man "a bonne
fortunes" by his liaison with Madame Sarcus, wife of Sarcus the rich,
who was to his life, without too close a comparison, what the
campaigns of Italy were to Napoleon. He alone of the leading society
of Soulanges went to Paris, where he was received by the Soulanges
family. It was enough to hear him talk to imagine the supremacy he
wielded in his capacity as dandy and judge of elegance. He passed
judgment on all things by the use of three terms: "out of date,"
"antiquated," "superannuated."[*] A man, a woman, or a piece of
furniture might be "out of date"; next, by a greater degree of
imperfection, "antiquated"; but as to the last term, it was the
superlative of contempt. The first might be remedied, the second was
hopeless, but the third,--oh, better far never to have left the void
of nothingness! As to praise, a single word sufficed him, doubly and
trebly uttered: "Charming!" was the positive of his admiration.
"Charming, charming!" made you feel you were safe; but after
"Charming, charming, charming!" the ladder might be discarded, for the
heaven of perfection was attained.


[*] "Croute," "crouton," and "croute-au-pot," untranslatable, and
without equivalent in English. A "croute" is the slang term for a
man behind the age.--Tr.


The tabellion,--he called himself "tabellion," petty notary, and