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Bureaucracy by Honoré de Balzac
page 106 of 291 (36%)
this perspiration, which, in that case, might not be perspiration,
but, possibly, the effect of something lately added, or formerly
done, to my hat."

Monsieur Tournan at once informed his customer of the presence of a
greasy substance, obtained by the trying-out of the fat of a pig or
sow. The next day Poiret appeared at the office with another hat, lent
by Monsieur Tournan while a new one was making; but he did not sleep
that night until he had added the following sentence to the preceding
entries in his journal: "It is asserted that my hat contained lard,
the fat of a pig."

This inexplicable fact occupied the intellect of Poiret junior for the
space of two weeks; and he never knew how the phenomenon was produced.
The clerks told him tales of showers of frogs, and other dog-day
wonders, also the startling fact that an imprint of the head of
Napoleon had been found in the root of a young elm, with other
eccentricities of natural history. Vimeux informed him that one day
his hat--his, Vimeux's--had stained his forehead black, and that
hat-makers were in the habit of using drugs. After that Poiret paid many
visits to Monsieur Tournan to inquire into his methods of manufacture.

In the Rabourdin bureau was a clerk who played the man of courage and
audacity, professed the opinions of the Left centre, and rebelled
against the tyrannies of Baudoyer as exercised upon what he called the
unhappy slaves of that office. His name was Fleury. He boldly
subscribed to an opposition newspaper, wore a gray hat with a broad
brim, red bands on his blue trousers, a blue waistcoat with gilt
buttons, and a surtout coat crossed over the breast like that of a
quartermaster of gendarmerie. Though unyielding in his opinions, he
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