Pillerault, formerly an iron-monger at the sign of the
Cloche d'Or, had one of those faces whose beauty shines from the inner
to the outer; about him all things harmonized,--dress and manners, mind
and heart, thought and speech, words and acts. He was the sole relation
of Madame Birotteau, and had centred all his affections upon her and
upon Cesarine, having lost, in the course of his commercial career, his
wife and son, and also an adopted child, the son of his house-keeper.
These heavy losses had driven the good man into a kind of Christian
stoicism,--a noble doctrine, which gave life to his existence, and
colored his latter days with the warm, and at the same time chilling,
tones which gild the sunsets of winter. His head, thin and hollowed and
swarthy, with ochre and bistre tints harmoniously blended, offered
a striking likeness to that which artists bestow on Time, though it
vulgarized it; for the habits of commercial life lowered the stern
and monumental character which painters, sculptors, and clock-makers
exaggerate. Of medium height, Pillerault was more thick-set than stout;
Nature had built him for hard work and long life; his broad shoulders
showed a strong frame; he was dry by temperament, and his skin had,
as it were, no emotions, though it was not insensible. Little
demonstrative, as was shown by his composed face and quiet attitude, the
old man had an inward calm not expressed in phrases nor by emphasis.
His eye, the pupil of which was green, mingled with black lines, was
remarkable for its unalterable clearness. His forehead, wrinkled in
straight lines and yellowed by time, was small and narrow, hard, and
crowned with silver-gray hair cut so short that it looked like felt. His
delicate mouth showed prudence, but not avarice. The vivacity of his
eye showed the purity of his life. Integrity, a sense of duty, and true
modesty made, as it were, a halo round his head, bringing his face into
the relief of a sound and healthful existence.

For sixty years he had led the hard and sober life of a determined
worker. His history was like Cesar's, except in happiness. A clerk till
thirty years of age, his property was all in his business at the time
when Cesar put his savings into the Funds; he had suffered, like others,
under the Maximum, and the pickaxes and other implements of his
trade had been requisitioned. His reserved and judicious nature, his
forethought and mathematical reflection, were seen in his methods