moral system, which makes them pass through life instead of really
living it, is added a feeble character, external things assume an
extraordinary power over them. Birotteau was like certain vegetables;
transplant them, and you stop their ripening. Just as a tree needs daily
the same sustenance, and must always send its roots into the same soil,
so Birotteau needed to trot about Saint-Gatien, and amble along the Mail
where he took his daily walk, and saunter through the streets, and visit
the three salons where, night after night, he played his whist or his
backgammon.

"Ah! I did not think of it!" replied Monsieur de Bourbonne, gazing at
the priest with a sort of pity.

All Tours was soon aware that Madame la Baronne de Listomere, widow of
a lieutenant-general, had invited the Abbe Birotteau, vicar of
Saint-Gatien, to stay at her house. That act, which many persons
questioned, presented the matter sharply and divided the town into
parties, especially after Mademoiselle Salomon spoke openly of a fraud
and a lawsuit. With the subtle vanity which is common to old maids, and
the fanatic self-love which characterizes them, Mademoiselle Gamard was
deeply wounded by the course taken by Madame de Listomere. The baroness
was a woman of high rank, elegant in her habits and ways, whose good
taste, courteous manners, and true piety could not be gainsaid.
By receiving Birotteau as her guest she gave a formal denial to all
Mademoiselle Gamard's assertions, and indirectly censured her conduct by
maintaining the vicar's cause against his former landlady.

It is necessary for the full understanding of this history to explain
how the natural discernment and spirit of analysis which old women bring
to bear on the actions of others gave power to Mademoiselle Gamard, and
what were the resources on her side. Accompanied by the taciturn Abbe
Troubert she made a round of evening visits to five or six houses, at
each of which she met a circle of a dozen or more persons, united by
kindred tastes and the same general situation in life. Among them were
one or two men who were influenced by the gossip and prejudices of their
servants; five or six old maids who spent their time in sifting the
words and scrutinizing the actions of their neighbours and others in the
class below them; besides these, there were several old women who
busied themselves in retailing scandal, keeping an exact account of
each person's fortune, striving to control or infl