efused; though he had but three thousand francs from Gobenheim, a
former clerk of his master. Dumay was a Breton transplanted by fate into
Normandy. Imagine therefore the hatred conceived for the tenants of the
Chalet by the Norman Vilquin, a man worth three millions! What criminal
leze-million on the part of a cashier, to hold up to the eyes of such
a man the impotence of his wealth! Vilquin, whose desperation in the
matter made him the talk of Havre, had just proposed to give Dumay a
pretty house of his own, and had again been refused. Havre itself began
to grow uneasy at the man's obstinacy, and a good many persons explained
it by the phrase, "Dumay is a Breton." As for the cashier, he thought
Madame and Mademoiselle Mignon would be ill-lodged elsewhere. His
two idols now inhabited a temple worthy of them; the sumptuous little
cottage gave them a home, where these dethroned royalties could keep the
semblance of majesty about them,--a species of dignity usually denied to
those who have seen better days.

Perhaps as the story goes on, the reader will not regret having learned
in advance a few particulars as to the home and the habitual companions
of Modeste Mignon, for, at her age, people and things have as much
influence upon the future life as a person's own character,--indeed,
character often receives ineffaceable impressions from its surroundings.

CHAPTER II. A PORTRAIT FROM LIFE

From the manner with which the Latournelles entered the Chalet a
stranger would readily have guessed that they came there every evening.

"Ah, you are here already," said the notary, perceiving the young banker
Gobenheim, a connection of Gobenheim-Keller, the head of the great
banking house in Paris.

This young man with a livid face--a blonde of the type with black eyes,
whose immovable glance has an indescribable fascination, sober in speech
as in conduct, dressed in black, lean as a consumptive, but nevertheless
vigorously framed--visited the family of his former master and the house
of his cashier less from affection than from self-interest. Here they
played whist at two sous a point; a dress-coat was not required; he
accepted no refreshment except "eau sucree," and consequently had
no civilities to return. This apparent devotion to the Mignon family
allowed it to be supposed that Gobenheim had a heart; it also released
him from the necessity of going into the society of Havre and incurring
useless expenses, thus upsettin