could lay her hands on. The Sieur Matifat amused himself by looking
into new business speculations, investing a little capital now and
again for the sake of the excitement. Florine had cured him of his
taste for the Regency style of thing. One saying of his will give you
some idea of the depths in my Matifat. 'Art _thou_ going to bed, my
nieces?' he used to say when he wished them good-night, because (as he
explained) he was afraid of hurting their feelings with the more
formal 'you.'

"The daughter was a girl with no manner at all. She looked rather like
a superior sort of housemaid. She could get through a sonata, she
wrote a pretty English hand, knew French grammar and orthography--a
complete commercial education, in short. She was impatient enough to
be married and leave the paternal roof, finding it as dull at home as
a lieutenant finds the nightwatch at sea; at the same time, it should
be said that her watch lasted through the whole twenty-four hours.
Desroches or Cochin junior, a notary or a lifeguardsman, or a sham
English lord,--any husband would have suited her. As she so obviously
knew nothing of life, I took pity upon her, I determined to reveal the
great secret of it. But, pooh! the Matifats shut their doors on me.
The bourgeois and I shall never understand each other."

"She married General Gouraud," said Finot.

"In forty-eight hours, Godefroid de Beaudenord, late of the diplomatic
corps, saw through the Matifats and their nefarious designs," resumed
Bixiou. "Rastignac happened to be chatting with the frivolous Baroness
when Godefroid came in to give his report to Malvina. A word here and
there reached his ear; he guessed the matter on foot, more
particularly from Malvina's look of satisfaction that it was as she