eir ordinary clothes, and who attribute to women so depraved a taste
that they believe they will be favorably impressed by the aspect of a
busby and of military accoutrements.

The countenance of this Captain of the Second Company beamed with a
self-satisfaction that added splendor to his ruddy and somewhat chubby
face. The halo of glory that a fortune made in business gives to a
retired tradesman sat on his brow, and stamped him as one of the elect
of Paris--at least a retired deputy-mayor of his quarter of the town.
And you may be sure that the ribbon of the Legion of Honor was not
missing from his breast, gallantly padded _a la Prussienne_. Proudly
seated in one corner of the _milord_, this splendid person let his
gaze wander over the passers-by, who, in Paris, often thus meet an
ingratiating smile meant for sweet eyes that are absent.

The vehicle stopped in the part of the street between the Rue
de Bellechasse and the Rue de Bourgogne, at the door of a large,
newly-build house, standing on part of the court-yard of an ancient
mansion that had a garden. The old house remained in its original state,
beyond the courtyard curtailed by half its extent.

Only from the way in which the officer accepted the assistance of the
coachman to help him out, it was plain that he was past fifty. There are
certain movements so undisguisedly heavy that they are as tell-tale as
a register of birth. The captain put on his lemon-colored right-hand
glove, and, without any question to the gatekeeper, went up the outer
steps to the ground of the new house with a look that proclaimed, "She
is mine!"

The _concierges_ of Paris have sharp eyes; they do not stop visitors who
wear an order, have a blue uniform, and walk ponderously; in short, they
know a rich man when they see him.

This ground floor was entirely occupied by Monsieur le Baron Hulot
d'Ervy, Commissary General under the Republic, retired army contractor,
and at the present time at the head of one of the most important
departments of the War Office, Councillor of State, officer of the
Legion of Honor, and so forth.

This Baron Hulot had taken the name of d'Ervy--the place of his
birth--to distinguish him from his brother, the famous General Hulot,
Colonel of the Grenadiers of the Imperial Guard, created by the Emperor
Comte de Forzheim after the campaign of 1809. The Count, the elder
brother, being responsible for his junior, had, with paternal care,
placed him in the commi