washed off; by dint of repetition they lose their brilliancy," said
Bixiou. "Where shall we go?"

"Here, close by, to our hatter?" replied Leon.

"Bravo!" cried Bixiou. "If we keep on in this way, we shall have an
amusing day of it."

"Gazonal," said Leon, "I shall make the man pose for you; but mind
that you keep a serious face, like the king on a five-franc piece, for
you are going to see a choice original, a man whose importance has
turned his head. In these days, my dear fellow, under our new
political dispensation, every human being tries to cover himself with
glory, and most of them cover themselves with ridicule; hence a lot of
living caricatures quite new to the world."

"If everybody gets glory, who can be famous?" said Gazonal.

"Fame! none but fools want that," replied Bixiou. "Your cousin wears
the cross, but I'm the better dressed of the two, and it is I whom
people are looking at."

After this remark, which may explain why orators and other great
statesmen no longer put the ribbon in their buttonholes when in Paris,
Leon showed Gazonal a sign, bearing, in golden letters, the
illustrious name of "Vital, successor to Finot, manufacturer of hats"
(no longer "hatter" as formerly), whose advertisements brought in more
money to the newspapers than those of any half-dozen vendors of pills
or sugarplums,--the author, moreover, of an essay on hats.