de Fondege was known as "the General" everywhere.
He was invited and announced as "the General." Many people believed that
he had really been one, and perhaps he fancied so himself, for he had
long been in the habit of inscribing "General A. de Fondege" on his
visiting cards. The nickname had had a decisive influence on his life.
He had endeavored to show himself worthy of it, and the manners he had
at first assumed, eventually became natural ones. He seemed to be the
conventional old soldier--irascible and jovial at the same time; brusk
and kind; at once frank, sensible and brutal; as simple as a child, and
yet as true as steel. He swore the most tremendous oaths in a deep bass
voice, and whenever he talked his arms revolved like the sails of a
windmill. However, Madame de Fondege, who was a very angular lady, with
a sharp nose and very thin lips, assured people that her husband was not
so terrible as he appeared. He was not considered very shrewd, and he
pretended to have an intense dislike for business matters. No one knew
anything precise about his fortune, but he had a great many friends
who invited him to dinner, and they all declared that he was in very
comfortable circumstances.

On entering the study this worthy man did not pay the slightest
attention to the Marquis de Valorsay, although they were intimate
friends. He walked straight up to Mademoiselle Marguerite, caught her in
his long arms, and pressed her to his heart, brushing her face with
his huge mustaches as he pretended to kiss her. "Courage, my dear," he
growled; "courage. Don't give way. Follow my example. Look at me!"
So saying he stepped back, and it was really amusing to see the
extraordinary effort he made to combine a soldier's stoicism with a
friend's sorrow. "You must wonder at my delay, my dear," he resumed,
"but it was not my fault. I was at Madame de Rochecote's when I was
informed that your messenger was at home waiting for me. I returned,
and heard the frightful news. It was a thunderbolt. A friend of thirty
years' standing! A thousand thunderclaps! I acted as his second when he
fought his first duel. Poor Chalusse! A man as sturdy as an oak, and who
ought to have outlived us all. But it is always so; the best soldiers
always file by first at dress-parade."

The Marquis de Valorsay had beaten a retreat, the magistrate was hidden
in a dark corner, and Mademoiselle Marguerite, who was accustomed to the
General's manner, remained silent, b