ike an omnibus conductor in a cape with a military collar of
blue cloth.

His head was like an egg with the hollow downward. The skull, waxed as
if with siccatif, seemed to have grown up out of the hair, which was
hard and like filaments of dried coconut and hung down over his neck.
The nose was bony, and the nostrils opened like two hatchways, over a
toothless mouth which was hidden by a moustache grizzled like the goatee
springing from the short chin. At first glance one would have taken him
for an art-worker, a wood engraver or a glider of saints' images, but on
looking at him more closely, observing the eyes, round and grey, set
close to the nose, almost crossed, and studying his solemn voice and
obsequious manners, one asked oneself from what quite special kind of
sacristy the man had issued.

He took off his things and appeared in a black frock coat of square,
boxlike cut. A fine gold chain, passed about his neck, lost itself in
the bulging pocket of an old vest. Durtal gasped when Gevingey, as soon
as he had seated himself, complacently put his hands on exhibition,
resting them on his knees. Enormous, freckled with blotches of orange,
and terminating in milk-white nails cut to the quick, the fingers were
covered with huge rings, the sets of which formed a phalanx.

Seeing Durtal's gaze fixed on his fingers, he smiled. "You examine my
valuables, monsieur. They are of three metals, gold, platinum, and
silver. This ring bears a scorpion, the sign under which I was born.
That with its two accoupled triangles, one pointing downward and the
other upward, reproduces the image of the macrocosm, the seal of
Solomon, the grand pantacle. As for the little one you see here," he
went on, showing a lady's ring set with a tiny sapphire between two
roses, "that is a present from a person whose horoscope I was good
enough to cast."

"Ah!" said Durtal, somewhat surprised at the man's self-satisfaction.

"Dinner is ready," said the bell-ringer's wife.

Des Hermies, doffing his apron, appeared in his tight cheviot garments.
He was not so pale as usual, his cheeks being red from the heat of the
stove. He set the chairs around.

Carhaix served the broth, and everyone was silent, taking spoonfuls of
the cooler broth at the edge of the bowl. Then madame brought Des
Hermies the famous leg of mutton to cut. It was a magnificent red, and
large drops flowed beneath the knife. Everybody ecstasized when tasting
this robust meat, aroma