n
family festivals he received as a gratuity some little gift, to which
Madame Guillaume's dry and wrinkled hand alone gave value--netted
purses, which she took care to stuff with cotton wool, to show off the
fancy stitches, braces of the strongest make, or heavy silk stockings.
Sometimes, but rarely, this prime minister was admitted to share the
pleasures of the family when they went into the country, or when, after
waiting for months, they made up their mind to exert the right acquired
by taking a box at the theatre to command a piece which Paris had
already forgotten.

As to the other assistants, the barrier of respect which formerly
divided a master draper from his apprentices was that they would
have been more likely to steal a piece of cloth than to infringe this
time-honored etiquette. Such reserve may now appear ridiculous; but
these old houses were a school of honesty and sound morals. The masters
adopted their apprentices. The young man's linen was cared for, mended,
and often replaced by the mistress of the house. If an apprentice fell
ill, he was the object of truly maternal attention. In a case of
danger the master lavished his money in calling in the most celebrated
physicians, for he was not answerable to their parents merely for the
good conduct and training of the lads. If one of them, whose character
was unimpeachable, suffered misfortune, these old tradesmen knew how to
value the intelligence he had displayed, and they did not hesitate
to entrust the happiness of their daughters to men whom they had long
trusted with their fortunes. Guillaume was one of these men of the
old school, and if he had their ridiculous side, he had all their good
qualities; and Joseph Lebas, the chief assistant, an orphan without any
fortune, was in his mind destined to be the husband of Virginie, his
elder daughter. But Joseph did not share the symmetrical ideas of his
master, who would not for an empire have given his second daughter in
marriage before the elder. The unhappy assistant felt that his heart was
wholly given to Mademoiselle Augustine, the younger. In order to justify
this passion, which had grown up in secret, it is necessary to inquire
a little further into the springs of the absolute government which ruled
the old cloth-merchant's household.

Guillaume had two daughters. The elder, Mademoiselle Virginie, was
the very image of her mother. Madame Guillaume, daughter of the Sieur
Chevrel, sat so upright in th