all companionship by means of the extreme and grotesque politeness
which they bestowed upon him. A pretty youth of twenty-two, tall and
slender, with the manners of an Englishman, a dandy in dress, curled
and perfumed, gloved and booted in the latest fashion, and twirling an
eyeglass, Benjamin de la Billardiere thought himself a charming fellow
and possessed all the vices of the world with none of its graces. He
was now looking forward impatiently to the death of his father, that
he might succeed to the title of baron. His cards were printed "le
Chevalier de la Billardiere" and on the wall of his office hung, in a
frame, his coat of arms (sable, two swords in saltire, on a chief
azure three mullets argent; with the motto; "Toujours fidele").
Possessed with a mania for talking heraldry, he once asked the young
Vicomte de Portenduere why his arms were charged in a certain way, and
drew down upon himself the happy answer, "I did not make them." He
talked of his devotion to the monarchy and the attentions the Dauphine
paid him. He stood very well with des Lupeaulx, whom he thought his
friend, and they often breakfasted together. Bixiou posed as his
mentor, and hoped to rid the division and France of the young fool by
tempting him to excesses, and openly avowed that intention.

Such were the principal figures of La Billardiere's division of the
ministry, where also were other clerks of less account, who resembled
more or less those that are represented here. It is difficult even for
an observer to decide from the aspect of these strange personalities
whether the goose-quill tribe were becoming idiots from the effects of
their employment or whether they entered the service because they were
natural born fools. Possibly the making of them lies at the door of
Nature and of the government both. Nature, to a civil-service clerk
is, in fact, the sphere of the office; his horizon is bounded on all
sides by green boxes; to him, atmospheric changes are the air of the