rstand that such
a man must be physically round, fat, and comfortable, with the face of
a worthy capitalist. As to morals, he was the lover and the beloved
of Tullia and felt himself preferred in heart to the brilliant Duc de
Rhetore, the lover in chief.

Dutocq had seen with great uneasiness what he called the liaison of des
Lupeaulx with Madame Rabourdin, and his silent wrath on the subject
was accumulating. He had too prying an eye not to have guessed that
Rabourdin was engaged in some great work outside of his official labors,
and he was provoked to feel that he knew nothing about it, whereas
that little Sebastien was, wholly or in part, in the secret. Dutocq was
intimate with Godard, under-head-clerk to Baudoyer, and the high esteem
in which Dutocq held Baudoyer was the original cause of his acquaintance
with Godard; not that Dutocq was sincere even in this; but by praising
Baudoyer and saying nothing of Rabourdin he satisfied his hatred after
the fashion of little minds.

Joseph Godard, a cousin of Mitral on the mother's side, made pretension
to the hand of Mademoiselle Baudoyer, not perceiving that her mother was
laying siege to Falliex as a son-in-law. He brought little gifts to the
young lady, artificial flowers, bonbons on New-Year's day and pretty
boxes for her birthday. Twenty-six years of age, a worker working
without purpose, steady as a girl, monotonous and apathetic, holding
cafes, cigars, and horsemanship in detestation, going to bed regularly
at ten o'clock and rising at seven, gifted with some social talents,
such as playing quadrille music on the flute, which first brought him
into favor with the Saillards and the Baudoyers. He was moreover a fifer
in the National Guard,--to escape his turn of sitting up all night in a
barrack-room. Godard was devoted more especially to natural history. He
made collections of shells and minerals, knew how to stuff birds, kept
a mass of curiosities bought for nothing in his bedroom; took
possession of phials and empty perfume bottles for his specimens; pinned
butterflies and beetles under glass, hung Chinese parasols on the
walls, together with dried fishskins. He lived with his sister, an
artificial-flower maker, in the due de Richelieu. Though much admired
by mammas this model young man was looked down upon by his sister's
shop-girls, who had tried to inveigle him. Slim and lean, of medium
height, with dark circles round his eyes, Joseph Godard took little care
of