Joseph, who was now twenty-one, and much thought of by the friends who
had stood by him in his days of trial, felt his own strength and was
aware of his talent; he represented the art of painting in a circle of
young men whose lives were devoted to science, letters, politics, and
philosophy. Consequently, he was wounded by his brother's contempt,
which Philippe still further emphasized with a gesture, pulling his
ears as if he were still a child. Agathe noticed the coolness which
succeeded the first glow of tenderness on the part of Joseph and
Madame Descoings; but she hastened to tell them of Philippe's
sufferings in exile, and so lessened it. Madame Descoings, wishing to
make a festival of the return of the prodigal, as she called him under
her breath, had prepared one of her good dinners, to which old
Claparon and the elder Desroches were invited. All the family friends
were to come, and did come, in the evening. Joseph had invited Leon
Giraud, d'Arthez, Michel Chrestien, Fulgence Ridal, and Horace
Bianchon, his friends of the fraternity. Madame Descoings had promised
Bixiou, her so-called step-son, that the young people should play at
ecarte. Desroches the younger, who had now taken, under his father's
stern rule, his degree at law, was also of the party. Du Bruel,
Claparon, Desroches, and the Abbe Loraux carefully observed the
returned exile, whose manners and coarse features, and voice roughened
by the abuse of liquors, together with his vulgar glance and
phraseology, alarmed them not a little. While Joseph was placing the
card-tables, the more intimate of the family friends surrounded Agathe
and asked,--

"What do you intend to make of Philippe?"

"I don't know," she answered, "but he is determined not to serve the