hated priests; he belonged to that great
flock of ninnies who subscribed to the "Constitutionnel," and was much
concerned about "refusals to bury." He adored Voltaire, though his
preferences were really for Piron, Vade, and Colle. Naturally, he
admired Beranger, whom he wittily called the "grandfather of the
religion of Lisette." His daughters, Madame Camusot and Madame
Protez, and his two sons would, to use a popular expression, have been
flabbergasted if any one had explained to them what their father meant
by "singing la Mere Godichon."

This long-headed parent had never mentioned his income to his children,
who, seeing that he lived in a cheap way, reflected that he had deprived
himself of his property for their sakes, and, therefore, redoubled
their attentions and tenderness. In fact, he would sometimes say to his
sons:--

"Don't lose your property; remember, I have none to leave you."

Camusot, in whom he recognized a certain likeness to his own nature,
and whom he liked enough to make a sharer in his secret pleasures, alone
knew of the thirty thousand a year annuity. But Camusot approved of the
old man's ethics, and thought that, having made the happiness of his
children and nobly fulfilled his duty by them, he now had a right to end
his life jovially.

"Don't you see, my friend," said the former master of the Cocon d'Or,
"I might re-marry. A young woman would give me more children. Well,
Florentine doesn't cost me what a wife would; neither does she bore me;
and she won't give me children to lessen your property."

Camusot considered that Pere Cardot gave expression to a high sense
of family duty in these words; he regarded him as an admirable
father-in-law.

"He knows," thought he, "how to unite the interests of his children
with the pleasures which old age naturally desires after the worries of
business life."

Neither the Cardots, nor the Camusots, nor the Protez knew anything
of the ways of life of their aunt Clapart. The family intercourse was
restricted to the sending of notes of "faire part" on the occasion
of deaths and marriages, and cards at the New Year. The proud Madame
Clapart would never have brought herself to seek them were it not for
Oscar's interests, and because of her friendship for Moreau, the only
person who had been faithful to her in misfortune. She had never annoyed
old Cardot by her visits, or her importunities, but she held to him as
to a hope, and always went to see him once