herhood which gives the
upper circles of Besancon a solemn air and prudish manners in harmony
with the character of the town.

Monsieur le Baron de Watteville, a dry, lean man devoid of intelligence,
looked worn out without any one knowing whereby, for he enjoyed the
profoundest ignorance; but as his wife was a red-haired woman, and of a
stern nature that became proverbial (we still say "as sharp as Madame
de Watteville"), some wits of the legal profession declared that he had
been worn against that rock--_Rupt_ is obviously derived from _rupes_.
Scientific students of social phenomena will not fail to have observed
that Rosalie was the only offspring of the union between the Wattevilles
and the Rupts.

Monsieur de Watteville spent his existence in a handsome workshop with
a lathe; he was a turner! As subsidiary to this pursuit, he took up
a fancy for making collections. Philosophical doctors, devoted to the
study of madness, regard this tendency towards collecting as a first
degree of mental aberration when it is set on small things. The Baron de
Watteville treasured shells and geological fragments of the neighborhood
of Besancon. Some contradictory folk, especially women, would say of
Monsieur de Watteville, "He has a noble soul! He perceived from the
first days of his married life that he would never be his wife's master,
so he threw himself into a mechanical occupation and good living."

The house of the Rupts was not devoid of a certain magnificence worthy
of Louis XIV., and bore traces of the nobility of the two families
who had mingled in 1815. The chandeliers of glass cut in the shape of
leaves, the brocades, the damask, the carpets, the gilt furniture, were
all in harmony with the old liveries and the old servants. Though served
in blackened family plate, round a looking-glass tray furnished with
Dresden china, the food was exquisite. The wines selected by Monsieur
de Watteville, who, to occupy his time and vary his employments, was his
own butler, enjoyed a sort of fame throughout the department. Madame
de Watteville's fortune was a fine one; while her husband's, which
consisted only of the estate of Rouxey, worth about ten thousand francs
a year, was not increased by inheritance. It is needless to add that
in consequence of Madame de Watteville's close intimacy with the
Archbishop, the three or four clever or remarkable Abbes of the diocese
who were not averse to good feeding were very much at home at her h