served up in flowing phrases mildly put forth, which sounded to the
ears of superficial people like eloquence. Thus he pleased that great
majority, mediocre by nature, who are condemned to perpetual labor and
to views which are of the earth earthy. Cesar, however, lost so much
time in court that his wife obliged him finally to resign the
expensive dignity.

Towards 1813, the Birotteau household, thanks to its constant harmony,
and after steadily plodding on through life, saw the dawn of an era of
prosperity which nothing seemed likely to interrupt. Monsieur and
Madame Ragon, their predecessors, the uncle Pillerault, Roguin the
notary, the Messrs. Matifat, druggists in the Rue des Lombards and
purveyors to "The Queen of Roses," Joseph Lebas, woollen draper and
successor to the Messrs. Guillaume at the Maison du Chat-qui-pelote
(one of the luminaries of the Rue Saint-Denis), Popinot the judge,
brother of Madame Ragon, Chiffreville of the firm of Protez &
Chiffreville, Monsieur and Madame Cochin, employed in the treasury
department and sleeping partners in the house of Matifat, the Abbe
Loraux, confessor and director of the pious members of this coterie,
with a few other persons, made up the circle of their friends. In
spite of the royalist sentiments of Birotteau, public opinion was in
his favor; he was considered very rich, though in fact he possessed
only a hundred thousand francs over and above his business. The
regularity of his affairs, his punctuality, his habit of making no
debts, of never discounting his paper, and of taking, on the contrary,
safe securities from those whom he could thus oblige, together with
his general amiability, won him enormous credit. His household cost
him nearly twenty thousand francs a year, and the education of
Cesarine, an only daughter, idolized by Constance as well as by
himself, necessitated heavy expenses. Neither husband nor wife