The Lesser Bourgeoisie

between the two young people. Mademoiselle Colleville did not need to be told by her mother that it would be extremely unbecoming if she allowed Felix to know of the conditional approval that was

s not at all as ungraceful and displeasing as might have been imagined. But Phellion junior was in this encounter, the solemnity of which he little knew, unlucky and blundering to the last degree. Not only did h

ot one of logarithms, and Felix Phellion, being incapable of guessing it, thought himself positively and finally banished; so much so, that during the fifteen days granted to the poor girl to deliberate (as says the Code in the matter of beneficiary be

ng over him, and the evening before the day on which the young

ich the Thuilliers still kep

usekeepers bundle themselves when they go to market, was prosaically returning from a visit to the butcher, followed by her cook and the basket, in which lay a magnificent cut of the loin of beef. Twice had she rung her own doorbell, and terrible was the storm gathering on the head of the foot-boy, who by his slowness in opening the door was putting his mistress in a situati

her, Phellion, attracted by the noise of the bell, and attired in a dressing-gown and Greek cap, came out of his study to inquire what was the matter. After a speech, the pompous charm of which d

e la comtesse what has procured for us

y interest her. I have no other way of meeting her without witnesses; and therefore, tho

dwelling. But where is Madame Phellion?" added t

busy with household cares. Brigitte has been my educator in such matters, and I know the respect we ough

ad taken the place of the market bonnet, and a large shawl covered the other insufficiencies of the

with madame; on the contrary, your excellent judgment will be most useful in throwing light

ith a look of astonishment; "but I am not aware th

th Mademoiselle Celeste is, I thin

Phellion, "taken any ove

one thing is clear in spite of the reserve, and, you must allow me to say so, the clumsiness in which the affair has been managed, and that is that the young pe

the interest you are so good as to show in the happiness

" interrupted the countess, "t

lion, bowing with an ai

ple. I have studied Celeste, and in that dear and artless child I find a

Madame Phellion. "Celeste is,

erest myself because, in the first place

treat-" said Phel

ions and all his words. We mature women find an inexpressible charm in seeing the tende

Madame Phellion, with a faint tone of shar

d the countess, "and a merit which ignores itself,-a thing

Phellion, "you force

in the happiness of these young people is that I am not so desirous for that of Monsieur Theodose de la Peyrade,

at there are dark depths in Monsieur de l

etchedness to which Celeste would be condemned by so fatal a connection, impels me, in the h

as to the faults on our part, which have thwarted your generous efforts, I must declare that in order to av

ss, "since any of your family have

, "I think we were all there the Sunday

the countess; "and you think that nothing o

, 1830, cast down a perjured dynasty and found t

me, during that evening, fifteen days ago, did noth

ject of my son's religious opinions; it must be owned that our good Celeste, who in a

of it. Repentant Magdalens of the Madame Colleville species always assume an air of wishing to retire to a desert with their death's-head and crossed bones. The

a book extremely well written; but his convictions-and th

s in not assuring his mistress of some li

st lesson in cleverness; loyalty, uprightness, those ar

o be that iron door against which poor Celeste's applications beat in vain; was that a reason for keeping away from her and sulking in his tent for fifteen whole days? Above all, ought he to

me!" cried Phellion. "I know nothing of this proceeding; but

th the utmost punctuality to hear him recite has ceased entirely to have anything to do with him. Unless your son is ill, I do not hesitate to say that this neg

at each other as if c

of keeping with his nature and habits, I think it right to tell you that from the day when Celeste seemed to signify that all was at a

"the young man is certainly

er with him?" asked t

eturn home, he wept a flood of hot tears on his mother's bosom, and ga

othing very serious happened; but lov

ade the slightest allusion to his misfortune, and the next day he went

anation; work is said

-mindedness which the medical faculty consider most injurious to the process of digestion; his duties, his regular occupations, we have to remind him of-him, so extremely regular, so punctual! The other day, when he was at the Observatory, where he now spends all his evenin

tess, "he is on the road

ame Phellion, in a low vo

ed, he runs but little danger of that misfortune. I know myself of another danger that threatens him to

the husband and

"that Thuillier and his sister have made certain

much," replied

house near the Madeleine, pledged himself not only to obtain the cross for Monsieur Thuillier, but to write in his name a political pamphlet, and assist him in his electi

Phellion, looking at her husband,

know that, thanks to his duplicity, Celeste is being forced to choose between him and Monsieur Felix; fifteen days were given her in which to make her choice; the time expires to-morrow, and, thanks to the

done to prevent i

h a mass. But let him avoid all such questions; he can certainly find in his heart the words and tones to move a woman who loves him; it requires so little to satisfy her! I shall be there myself, and I will help him to my utmost ab

nd urgent words would succeed in shaking off his torpor; but, at any rate, I will lay before him th

id the very slightest appearance of collusion; we must not converse together; in

my prudence," replied Phellion, "

ed sentiments," interrupt

rmula for the conclusion of my letters; I beg you to accept

the door; "and if Madame Phellion, the tenderest and most virtuous of mothers, will gra

he countess, in her carriage, was at some distance from the house be

ence, to change the aspect of the dominical meetings. Among the number we must mention Rabourdin [see "Bureaucracy"], the former head of Thuillier's office at the ministry of finance. Having had the misfortune to lose his wife, whose salon, at an earlier period, checkmated that of Madame Colleville, Rabourdin occupied as a bachelor the third floor, above the apartment let to Cardot, the notary. As the result of an odious slight to his just claims, Rabourdin had voluntarily resigned his public functions. At this time, when he again met Thuillier, he was director of one of those numerous projected railways, the construction of whic

, but my frankness owes you an avowal, which I beg you not to take i

ntil the contrary is proved, we pay the employees in our office well, and I should be glad to

d as to make to me, I cannot accept it; satisfied with my humble fortunes, I feel neither the need nor the desire to re-ent

o successfully put to profit the former connection of Colleville with the musical world, a few artists came to make diversion from bouillotte and boston. Old-fashion

the danger of the declivity on which she stood. The greater number of the new guests, recently imported by Thuillier, knew nothing of his sister's supremacy in his home. On arrival, therefore, they all asked Thuillier to present them to Madame, and, naturally, Thuillier could not say to them that his wife was a figure-head who groaned under the iron hand of a Richelieu, to whom the whole household bent the knee. It was therefore

e I shall soon be no

er sovereignty, seemed to her a far better match than the enterprising lawyer, and she was the first, on seeing the Phellion father and mother arrive without the son, to express regret at his absence. Brigitte, however, was not the only one to feel the injury that the luckless professor was doing to his prospects in thus keeping away from her reception. Madame Thuillier, with s

't your

ut to-night there happens to be a conjunction of I don't know what planets; it is

!" exclaimed Madame de Godollo; "wasn't theology bad

the last, when she returned to her place, to approach her, and express his admiration; but she received his compliments with a coldness so near to incivility that their mutual hostility was

woman sings well?" she said

there's no security. But do just look at your Celeste; her eyes never leave that door, and every time a tray

d round on the Sunday reception days, and that without scrimping; on the contrary, the

well what that foolish girl has in her mind; a

re of all of us. Come, come, there are tears in your eyes! I shall leave you; you are not reaso

ollo, Colleville, and Phellion. Madame Colleville followed him; and, under the in

don't you sing? These ge

after Madame de Godollo, with my poor thread

f pretentious and disagreeable; people sing as t

, 'People sing as they can sing' is a bourgeois maxim. People sing with a voice, if they have one; but they don't sing after hearing such a magnifi

leaving the group, "to spend so much money o

h the invasion of Flavie had interrupted, "Felix no l

emplation of those great luminous bodies suspended in space by the hand of the Creator presents, in my opinion, higher interest than it appears to have to your more ea

hing, but it has, unfortunately, the att

leste, "that it destroys

elf a great example of the falseness of your point of view, says, if I am not mistaken

en he helped my brother with his studies nothing could be, so Francois told me, clearer or more c

ot irreligious, and with a little gentleness and pat

of their studies before everything else. Tell a geometrician or a geologist, for example, that the Church demands, imperatively, the sanctification of

d Celeste, naively, "Monsieur Felix commits no

and eat ices and say evil of our neighbor-which is the customary habit of salons-is more pleasing to God t

leste; "and, as Monsieur de la Peyrade s

e de Godollo, "God has tim

y interpret and explain away the commands of God, even those that are most explicit and imperative; they take them, leave them, or ch

d two of the new acquaintances being the players. Phellion had just quitted the group with which he had so far been sitting, to join his wife, who was talking with Brigitte in a corner; by the veheme

ou consider the gentlemen attached to Saint-Jacque

barrister, "religion has

received by Pere Anselme. He is thought the model of all Christia

that the two qualities wer

re a blackboard with a bit of chalk in his hand, busy with a problem which was, no doubt, knotty, for the board was three-parts covered with algebraic signs; and I must add that he did not seem

ed at each other, and both saw a

ience?" Madame Thuillier ventured to say, for she never

es of monsieur here for this flagrant violation of the Sabbath. Besides," added Madame de

g men?" said Celeste, interrogatively; "th

not make me say what I do not choose to say, especially after a confidence that Pere

ry word the countess said only added to

selme's young collaborator was that very Felix Phellion. Voltaire always kept very close

brother in science; he submits his doubts to him; in fac

me," asked Celeste,

as been brought up to the highest principles; he knows, moreover, that his conversion to religion would make the happiness of a cha

e, yielding to the freshness of h

r eyes as she pressed M

door of the salon, and, singular complic

bathed in perspiration, his cravat i

Phellion, sternly, "

er and Celeste were seated, "I could not leave before the end of the phen

, "for you have been for the last half-hour in the minds of t

om the dining-room where she had gone to tell the man-serva

giveness in a very cordial "Better late than never," he turned towards his pole, a

tion I have, in the heat of conversation, committed about

had the honor to meet you,

ble smile flickered

id not go beyond a simple statement; I said you saw Pere Anselme sometimes, and had certain scient

e!" said Fel

t mathematician who does not despair of conve

dame de Godollo fixed upon him a pair of eyes the

given that joy to Mademoiselle Celeste,

ces you to hide a step that can only honor you, you can contradict me; I will bear the mortific

were doubt and eager expectation more plainly depicted on the human fac

u were busy in solving a problem; I said that your scientific intercourse with that saintly and enlightened man had led to other explanations between you; that you had submitted to him your religious doubts, and he did not despair of removing them. In the confirmation you can give of my

ng in having sought for light; you, so honorable and so truly an enemy

"will you, Mademoiselle Celeste, allow me to say

n from Madame Thuillier. Felix took her hand a

d those visible stars a future lies before us; I will place you there. As for Pere Anselme, I cannot admit wh

in tones of despair, as she resume

tion in which his father and his mother started after him. After this sudden departure, which s

difficult to drag a man from the wat

ess; "it is too silly. I pass over to the enemy; and with that enemy I am rea