owd that throngs the
streets with a jingling of money in the pockets and packages in every
hand. He would run about with _Grandmamma_ in quest of presents for the
young ladies, stopping in front of the booths of the small shopkeepers
whom the slightest indication of a customer excites beyond measure, for
they are unfamiliar with the art of selling and have based upon that
brief season visions of extraordinary profits. And there would be
consultations and meditations, a never-ending perplexity as to the
final selection in that busy little brain, always in advance of the
present and of the occupation of the moment.

But that year, alas! there was nothing of the sort. He wandered sadly
through the joyous city, sadder and more discouraged by reason of all
the activity around him, jostled and bumped like all those who impede
the circulation of the industrious, his heart beating with constant
dread, for _Grandmamma_, for several days past, had been making
significant, prophetic remarks at table on the subject of New Year's
gifts. For that reason he avoided being left alone with her and had
forbidden her coming to meet him at the office. But, struggle as he
would, the time was drawing near, he felt it in his bones, when further
mystery would be impossible and his secret would be divulged. Was this
_Grandmamma_ of whom M. Joyeuse stood in such fear such a terrible
creature, pray? _Mon Dieu_, no! A little stern, that was all, with a
sweet smile which promised instant pardon to every culprit. But M.
Joyeuse was naturally cowardly and timid; twenty years of housekeeping
with a masterful woman, "a person of gentle birth," had enslaved him
forever, like those convicts who are subjected to surveillance for a
certain period after their sentences have expired. And he was subjected
to it for life.

One evening the Joyeuse family was assembled in the small salon, the
last relic of its splendor, where there still were two stuffed
arm-chairs, an abundance of crochet-work, a piano, two Carcel lamps
with little green caps, and a small table covered with trivial
ornaments.

The true family exists only among the lowly.

For economy's sake only one fire was lighted for the whole house, and
only one lamp around which all their occupations, all their diversions
were grouped; an honest family lamp, whose old-fashioned shade--with
night scenes, studded with brilliant points--had been the wonder and
the delight of all the girls in their infancy