at he despatched it much quicker
than any of the other clerks. "He has a gift, that young man!" Phellion
said of him when he saw him cross his legs and have nothing to do for
the rest of the day, having got through his appointed task; "and see
what a little dandy he is!" Vimeux breakfasted on a roll and a glass
of water, dined for twenty sous at Katcomb's, and lodged in a furnished
room, for which he paid twelve francs a month. His happiness, his sole
pleasure in life, was dress. He ruined himself in miraculous waistcoats,
in trousers that were tight, half-tight, pleated, or embroidered; in
superfine boots, well-made coats which outlined his elegant figure; in
bewitching collars, spotless gloves, and immaculate hats. A ring with a
coat of arms adorned his hand, outside his glove, from which dangled a
handsome cane; with these accessories he endeavoured to assume the air
and manner of a wealthy young man. After the office closed he appeared
in the great walk of the Tuileries, with a tooth-pick in his mouth, as
though he were a millionaire who had just dined. Always on the
lookout for a woman,--an Englishwoman, a foreigner of some kind, or
a widow,--who might fall in love with him, he practised the art of
twirling his cane and of flinging the sort of glance which Bixiou told
him was American. He smiled to show his fine teeth; he wore no socks
under his boots, but he had his hair curled every day. Vimeux was
prepared, in accordance with fixed principles, to marry a hunch-back
with six thousand a year, or a woman of forty-five at eight thousand, or
an Englishwoman for half that sum. Phellion, who delighted in his
neat hand-writing, and was full of compassion for the fellow, read him
lectures on the duty of giving lessons in penmanship,--an honorable
career, he said, which would ameliorate existence and even render
it agreeable; he promised him a situation in a young ladies'
boarding-school. But Vimeux's head was so full of his own idea that
no human being could prevent him from having faith in his star. He
continued to lay himself out, like a salmon at a fishmonger's, in spite
of his empty stomach and the fact that he had fruitlessly exhibited his
enormous moustache and his fine clothes for over three years. As he owed
Antoine more than thirty francs for his breakfasts, he lowered his eyes
every time he passed him; and yet he never failed at midday to ask the
man to buy him a roll.

After trying to get a few reasonable idea