CHAPTER II
A PORTRAIT FROM LIFE
From the manner with which the Latournelles entered the Chalet a
stranger would readily have guessed that they came there every
evening.
"Ah, you are here already," said the notary, perceiving the young
banker Gobenheim, a connection of Gobenheim-Keller, the head of the
great banking house in Paris.
This young man with a livid face--a blonde of the type with black
eyes, whose immovable glance has an indescribable fascination, sober
in speech as in conduct, dressed in black, lean as a consumptive, but
nevertheless vigorously framed--visited the family of his former
master and the house of his cashier less from affection than from
self-interest. Here they played whist at two sous a point; a
dress-coat was not required; he accepted no refreshment except "eau
sucree," and consequently had no civilities to return. This apparent
devotion to the Mignon family allowed it to be supposed that Gobenheim
had a heart; it also released him from the necessity of going into the
society of Havre and incurring useless expenses, thus upsetting the
orderly economy of his domestic life.
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