mine in peace without knowing what he thinks and whether we
ought to go to Gondreville."

"Go, go, my dear. I'll wait," said Phileas, using the "thee" and "thou."

"Good heavens!" cried Severine with a significant gesture of her
shoulders. "Shall I never break you of that habit of tutoying me?"

"I never do it before company--not since 1817," said Phileas.

"You do it constantly before the servants and your daughter."

"As you will, Severine," replied Beauvisage sadly.

"Above all, don't say a word to Cecile about this resolution of the
electors," added Madame Beauvisage, who was looking in the glass to
arrange her shawl.

"Shall I go with you to your father's?" asked Phileas.

"No, stay with Cecile. Besides, Jean Violette was to pay the rest of the
purchase-money to-day. He has twenty thousand francs to bring you. This
is the third time he has put us off three months; don't grant him any
more delays; if he can't pay now, give his note to Courtet, the sheriff,
and take the law of him. Achille Pigoult will tell you how to proceed.
That Violette is the worthy son of his grandfather; I think he is
capable of enriching himself by going into bankruptcy,--there's neither
law nor gospel in him."

"He is very intelligent," said Beauvisage.

"You have given him the good-will of a fine business for thirty thousand
francs, which is certainly worth fifty thousand; and in ten years he has
only paid you ten thousand--"

"I never sued anybody yet," replied Beauvisage, "and I'd rather lose my
money than torment a poor man--"

"A man who laughs at you!"

Beauvisage was silent; feeling unable to reply to that cruel remark, he
looked at the boards which formed the floor of the salon.

Perhaps the progressive abolition of mind and will in Beauvisage will
be explained by the abuse of sleep. Going to bed every night at eight
o'clock and getting up the next morning at eight, he had slept his
twelve hours nightly for the last twenty years, never waking; or if that
extraordinary event did occur, it was so serious a matter to his mind
that he talked of it all day. He spent an hour at his toilet, for his
wife had trained him not to appear in her presence at breakfast unless
properly shaved, cleaned, and dressed for the day. When he was in
business, he departed to his office after breakfast and returned only
in time for dinner. Since 1832, he had substituted for his business
occupations a daily visit to his father-in-law, a promen