l
with him. When the vicar had ceased to speak he would indeed have been
puzzled had he sought on Troubert's face, marbled with yellow blotches
even more yellow than his usually bilious skin, for any trace of the
feelings he must have excited in that mysterious priest.

After a moment's silence the canon made one of those answers which
required long study before their meaning could be thoroughly perceived,
though later they proved to reflecting persons the astonishing depths
of his spirit and the power of his mind. He simply crushed Birotteau by
telling him that "these things amazed him all the more because he should
never have suspected their existence were it not for his brother's
confession. He attributed such stupidity on his part to the gravity of
his occupations, his labors, the absorption in which his mind was held
by certain elevated thoughts which prevented his taking due notice
of the petty details of life." He made the vicar observe, but without
appearing to censure the conduct of a man whose age and connections
deserved all respect, that "in former days, recluses thought little
about their food and lodging in the solitude of their retreats, where
they were lost in holy contemplations," and that "in our days, priests
could make a retreat for themselves in the solitude of their own
hearts." Then, reverting to Birotteau's affairs, he added that "such
disagreements were a novelty to him. For twelve years nothing of the
kind had occurred between Mademoiselle Gamard and the venerable Abbe
Chapeloud. As for himself, he might, no doubt, be an arbitrator between
the vicar and their landlady, because his friendship for that person
had never gone beyond the limits imposed by the Church on her faithful
servants; but if so, justice demanded that he should hear both sides.
He certainly saw no change in Mademoiselle Gamard, who seemed to him the
same as ever; he had always submitted to a few of her caprices, knowing
that the excellent woman was kindness and gentleness itself; the
slight fluctuations of her temper should be attributed, he thought, to
sufferings caused by a pulmonary affection, of which she said little,
resigning herself to bear them in a truly Christian spirit." He ended by
assuring the vicar that "if he stayed a few years longer in Mademoiselle
Gamard's house he would learn to understand her better and acknowledge
the real value of her excellent nature."

Birotteau left the room confounded. In the direful