r, to our dear
governor the esteem and confidence of which he had been so unjustly
deprived, one man has sufficed, the being of supernatural wealth whom
the hundred voices of renown designate by the name of the Nabob.

Oh, the first time that he came to the office, with his fine presence,
his face a little worn perhaps, but so distinguished, his manners of one
accustomed to frequent courts, upon terms of the utmost familiarity with
all the princes of the Orient--in a word, that indescribable quality of
assurance and greatness which is bestowed by immense wealth--I felt my
heart bursting beneath the double row of buttons on my waistcoat. People
may mouth in vain their great words of equality and fraternity; there
are men who stand so surely above the rest that one would like to
bow one's self down flat in their presence, to find new phrases of
admiration in order to compel them to take a practical interest in one.
Let us hasten to add that I had need of nothing of the kind to attract
the attention of the Nabob. As I rose at his passage--moved to some
emotion, but with dignity, you may trust Passajon for that--he looked
at me with a smile and said in an undertone to the young man who
accompanied him: "What a fine head, like a--" Then there came a word
which I did not catch very well, a word ending in _art_, something like
_leopard_. No, however, it cannot have been that. _Jean-Bart_, perhaps,
although even then I hardly see the connection. However that be, in
any case he did say, "What a fine head," and this condescension made me
proud. Moreover, all the directors show me a marked degree of kindness
and politeness. It seems that there was a discussion with regard to me
at the meeting of the board, to determine whether I should be kept or
dismissed like our cashier, that ill-tempered fellow who was always
talking of getting everybody sent to the galleys, and whom they have
now invited to go elsewhere to manufacture his cheap shirt-fronts.
Well done! That will teach him to be rude to people. So far as I
am concerned, Monsieur the Governor kindly consented to overlook my
somewhat hasty words, in consideration of my record of service at the
Territorial and elsewhere; and at the conclusion of the board meeting,
he said to me with his musical accent: "Passajon, you remain with us."
It may be imagined how happy I was and how profuse in the expression
of my gratitude. But just think! I should have left with my few pence
without h