.

His costume consisted of a huge frock-coat, something between a paletot
and a dressing-gown, between which an immense waistcoat of iron-gray
cloth, fastened from the throat to the pit of the stomach with two rows
of buttons, hussar fashion, formed a sort of buckler. The trousers,
though October was nearing its close, were made of black lasting,
and gave testimony to long service by the projection of a darn on the
otherwise polished surface covering the knees, the polish being produced
by the rubbing of the hands upon those parts. But, in broad daylight,
the feature of the old savant's appearance which struck the eye most
vividly was a pair of Patagonian feet, imprisoned in slippers of beaver
cloth, the which, moulded upon the mountainous elevations of gigantic
bunions, made the spectator think, involuntarily, of the back of a
dromedary or an advanced case of elephantiasis.

Once installed in a chair which was hastily brought for him, and the
company having returned to their places at table, the old man suddenly
burst out in thundering tones, amid the silence created by curiosity:--

"Where is he,--that rogue, that scamp? Let him show himself; let him
dare to speak to me!"

"Who is it that offends you, my dear monsieur?" said Thuillier, in
conciliating accents, in which there was a slight tone of patronage.

"A scamp whom I couldn't find in his own home, and they told me he
was here, in this house. I'm in the apartment, I think, of Monsieur
Thuillier of the Council-general, place de la Madeleine, first story
above the entresol?"

"Precisely," said Thuillier; "and allow me to add, monsieur, that you
are surrounded with the respect and sympathy of all."

"And you will doubtless permit me to add," said Minard, "that the mayor
of the arrondissement adjoining that which you inhabit congratulates
himself on being here in presence of Monsieur Picot,--_the_ Monsieur
Picot, no doubt, who has just immortalized his name by the discovery of
a star!"

"Yes, monsieur," replied the professor, elevating to a still higher
pitch the stentorian diapason of his voice, "I am Picot (Nepomucene),
but I have not discovered a star; I don't concern myself with any such
fiddle-faddle; besides, my eyes are very weak; and that insolent young
fellow I have come here to find is making me ridiculous with such talk.
I don't see him here; he is hiding himself, I know; he dares not look me
in the face."

"Who is this person who annoys you?"