arceland and the other ladies
of the Provins world. The Rogrons had supposed that all that was
required to gain a position in society was to give a few dinners. But
no one any longer accepted them, except a few young men who went to
make fun of their host and hostess, and certain diners-out who went
everywhere.

Frightened at the loss of forty thousand francs swallowed up without
profit in what she called her "dear house," Sylvie now set to work to
recover it by economy. She gave no more dinners, which had cost her
forty or fifty francs without the wines, and did not fulfil her social
hopes, hopes that are as hard to realize in the provinces as in Paris.
She sent away her cook, took a country-girl to do the menial work, and
did her own cooking, as she said, "for pleasure."

Fourteen months after their return to Provins, the brother and sister
had fallen into a solitary and wholly unoccupied condition. Their
banishment from society roused in Sylvie's heart a dreadful hatred
against the Tiphaines, Julliards and all the other members of the social
world of Provins, which she called "the clique," and with whom her
personal relations became extremely cold. She would gladly have set up
a rival clique, but the lesser bourgeoisie was made up of either small
shopkeepers who were only free on Sundays and fete-days, or smirched
individuals like the lawyer Vinet and Doctor Neraud, and wholly
inadmissible Bonapartists like Baron Gouraud, with whom, however, Rogron
thoughtlessly allied himself, though the upper bourgeoisie had warned
him against them.

The brother and sister were, therefore, forced to sit by the fire of the
stove in the dining-room, talking over their former business, trying to
recall the faces of their customers and other matters they had intended
to forget. By the end of the second winter ennui weighed heavily on
them. They did not know how to get through each day; sometimes as they
went to bed the words escaped them, "There's another over!" They dragged
out the morning by staying in bed, and dressing slowly. Rogron shaved
himself every day, examined his face, consulted his sister on any
changes he thought he saw there, argued with the servant about the
temperature of his hot water, wandered into the garden, looked to see if
the shrubs were budding, sat at the edge of the water where he had built
himself a kiosk, examined the joinery of his house,--had it sprung?
had the walls settled, the panels cracked? or he