Under the eyes of little Latournelle, who went
with him to various houses, Germain made a good deal of talk about the
secretary, rejecting two or three because there was no suitable room
for Monsieur de La Briere.
"Monsieur le baron," he said to the notary, "makes his secretary quite
his best friend. Ah! I should be well scolded if Monsieur de La Briere
was not as well treated as monsieur le baron himself; and after all,
you know, Monsieur de La Briere is a lawyer in my master's court."
Germain never appeared in public unless punctiliously dressed in
black, with spotless gloves, well-polished boots, and otherwise as
well apparelled as a lawyer. Imagine the effect he produced in Havre,
and the idea people took of the great poet from this sample of him!
The valet of a man of wit and intellect ends by getting a little wit
and intellect himself which has rubbed off from his master. Germain
did not overplay his part; he was simple and good-humored, as Canalis
had instructed him to be. Poor La Briere was in blissful ignorance of
the harm Germain was doing to his prospects, and the depreciation his
consent to the arrangement had brought upon him; it is, however, true
that some inkling of the state of things rose to Modeste's ears from
these lower regions.
Pages:
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260