ll brushed and
powdered, was tied in a rat's tail that lay between the collar of his
coat and that of his waistcoat, which was white, with a pattern of
flowers. With his round head, his face the color of a vine-leaf, his
blue eyes, a trumpet nose, a thick-lipped mouth, and a double-chin, the
dear old fellow excited, whenever he appeared among strangers who did
not know him, that satirical laugh which Frenchmen so generously bestow
on the ludicrous creations Dame Nature occasionally allows herself,
which Art delights in exaggerating under the name of caricatures.

But in Maitre Mathias, mind had triumphed over form; the qualities of
his soul had vanquished the oddities of his body. The inhabitants of
Bordeaux, as a rule, testified a friendly respect and a deference that
was full of esteem for him. The old man's voice went to their hearts and
sounded there with the eloquence of uprightness. His craft consisted in
going straight to the fact, overturning all subterfuge and evil devices
by plain questionings. His quick perception, his long training in his
profession gave him that divining sense which goes to the depths of
conscience and reads its secret thoughts. Though grave and deliberate in
business, the patriarch could be gay with the gaiety of our ancestors.
He could risk a song after dinner, enjoy all family festivities,
celebrate the birthdays of grandmothers and children, and bury with due
solemnity the Christmas log. He loved to send presents at New Year,
and eggs at Easter; he believed in the duties of a godfather, and never
deserted the customs which colored the life of the olden time. Maitre
Mathias was a noble and venerable relic of the notaries, obscure
great men, who gave no receipt for the millions entrusted to them, but
returned those millions in the sacks they were delivered in, tied with
the same twine; men who fulfilled their trusts to the letter, drew
honest inventories, took fatherly interest in their clients, often
barring the way to extravagance and dissipation,--men to whom families
confided their secrets, and who felt so responsible for any error in
their deeds that they meditated long and carefully over them. Never
during his whole notarial life, had any client found reason to complain
of a bad investment or an ill-placed mortgage. His own fortune, slowly
but honorably acquired, had come to him as the result of a thirty years'
practice and careful economy. He had established in life fourteen of his