med himself as to the manners and
customs of the upper town, and took his cue accordingly. He appeared on
the scene as a jaded man of the world, broken in health, and weary in
spirit. He would raise his hand to his forehead at all seasons, as
if pain never gave him a moment's respite, a habit that recalled his
travels and made him interesting. He was on visiting terms with the
authorities--the general in command, the prefect, the receiver-general,
and the bishop but in every house he was frigid, polite, and slightly
supercilious, like a man out of his proper place awaiting the favors
of power. His social talents he left to conjecture, nor did they lose
anything in reputation on that account; then when people began to talk
about him and wish to know him, and curiosity was still lively; when he
had reconnoitred the men and found them nought, and studied the women
with the eyes of experience in the cathedral for several Sundays, he saw
that Mme. de. Bargeton was the person with whom it would be best to be
on intimate terms. Music, he thought, should open the doors of a house
where strangers were never received. Surreptitiously he procured one of
Miroir's Masses, learned it upon the piano; and one fine Sunday when
all Angouleme went to the cathedral, he played the organ, sent those who
knew no better into ecstasies over the performance, and stimulated
the interest felt in him by allowing his name to slip out through the
attendants. As he came out after mass, Mme. de Bargeton complimented
him, regretting that she had no opportunity of playing duets with such
a musician; and naturally, during an interview of her own seeking, he
received the passport, which he could not have obtained if he had asked
for it.

So the adroit Baron was admitted to the circle of the queen of
Angouleme, and paid her marked attention. The elderly beau--he was
forty-five years old--saw that all her youth lay dormant and ready to
revive, saw treasures to be turned to account, and possibly a rich widow
to wed, to say nothing of expectations; it would be a marriage into the
family of Negrepelisse, and for him this meant a family connection with
the Marquise d'Espard, and a political career in Paris. Here was a fair
tree to cultivate in spite of the ill-omened, unsightly mistletoe that
grew thick upon it; he would hang his fortunes upon it, and prune it,
and wait till he could gather its golden fruit.

High-born Angouleme shrieked against the introductio