eminaries. As a man advances
in life he grows more selfish; egoism develops, and relaxes all the
secondary bonds of affection. A government office is, in short, a
microcosm of society, with its oddities and hatreds, its envy and its
cupidity, its determination to push on, no matter who goes under, its
frivolous gossip which gives so many wounds, and its perpetual spying.

CHAPTER V. THE MACHINE IN MOTION

At this moment the division of Monsieur de la Billardiere was in a state
of unusual excitement, resulting very naturally from the event which was
about to happen; for heads of divisions do not die every day, and
there is no insurance office where the chances of life and death are
calculated with more sagacity than in a government bureau. Self-interest
stifles all compassion, as it does in children, but the government
service adds hypocrisy to boot.

The clerks of the bureau Baudoyer arrived at eight o'clock in the
morning, whereas those of the bureau Rabourdin seldom appeared till
nine,--a circumstance which did not prevent the work in the latter
office from being more rapidly dispatched than that of the former.
Dutocq had important reasons for coming early on this particular
morning. The previous evening he had furtively entered the study
where Sebastien was at work, and had seen him copying some papers
for Rabourdin; he concealed himself until he saw Sebastien leave the
premises without taking any papers away with him. Certain, therefore,
of finding the rather voluminous memorandum which he had seen, together
with its copy, in some corner of the study, he searched through the
boxes one after another until he finally came upon the fatal list.
He carried it in hot haste to an autograph-printing house, where he
obtained two pressed copies of the memorandum, showing, of course,
Rabourdin's own writing. Anxious not to arouse suspicion, he had
gone very early to the office and replaced both the memorandum and
Sebastien's copy in the box from which he had taken them. Sebastien,
who was kept up till after midnight at Madame Rabourdin's party, was, in
spite of his desire to get to the office early, preceded by the spirit
of hatred. Hatred lived in the rue Saint-Louis-Saint-Honore, whereas
love and devotion lived far-off in the rue du Roi-Dore in the Marais.
This slight delay was destined to affect Rabourdin's whole career.

Sebastien opened his box eagerly, found the memorandum and his own
unfinished copy all in o