e delighted by all these good signs, sat down to table in the
evening between his wife and brother with a lighter heart than ever.
They often lingered over dinner till nine o'clock, leaving the shop in
Augustine's charge, and indulging in a leisurely digestion interspersed
with gossip about the neighbourhood, and the dogmatic opinions of Lisa
on political topics; Florent also had to relate how matters had gone in
the fish market that day. He gradually grew less frigid, and began
to taste the happiness of a well-regulated existence. There was a
well-to-do comfort and trimness about the light yellowish dining room
which had a softening influence upon him as soon as he crossed its
threshold. Handsome Lisa's kindly attentions wrapped him, as it were, in
cotton-wool; and mutual esteem and concord reigned paramount.

Gavard, however, considered the Quenu-Gradelles' home to be too drowsy.
He forgave Lisa her weakness for the Emperor, because, he said, one
ought never to discuss politics with women, and beautiful Madame
Quenu was, after all, a very worthy person, who managed her business
admirably. Nevertheless, he much preferred to spend his evenings at
Monsieur Lebigre's, where he met a group of friends who shared his own
opinions. Thus when Florent was appointed to the inspectorship of the
fish market, Gavard began to lead him astray, taking him off for hours,
and prompting him to lead a bachelor's life now that he had obtained a
berth.

Monsieur Lebigre was the proprietor of a very fine establishment, fitted
up in the modern luxurious style. Occupying the right-hand corner of the
Rue Pirouette, and looking on to the Rue Rambuteau, it formed, with its
four small Norwegian pines in green-painted tubs flanking the doorway, a
worthy pendant to the big pork shop of the Quenu-Gradelles. Through the
clear glass windows you could see the interior, which was decorated with
festoons of foliage, vine branches, and grapes, painted on a soft green
ground. The floor was tiled with large black and white squares. At
the far end was the yawning cellar entrance, above which rose a spiral
staircase hung with red drapery, and leading to the billiard-room on the
first floor. The counter or "bar" on the right looked especially rich,
and glittered like polished silver. Its zinc-work, hanging with a broad
bulging border over the sub-structure of white and red marble, edged it
with a rippling sheet of metal as if it were some high altar laden
with