opposed this deplorable craving. His favorite axioms were that, to
secure happiness, a woman must marry a man of her own class; that
every one was punished sooner or later for having climbed too high;
that love could so little endure under the worries of a household,
that both husband and wife needed sound good qualities to be happy,
that it would not do for one to be far in advance of the other,
because, above everything, they must understand each other; if a man
spoke Greek and his wife Latin, they might come to die of hunger. He
had himself invented this sort of adage. And he compared such
marriages to old-fashioned materials of mixed silk and wool. Still,
there is so much vanity at the bottom of man's heart that the prudence
of the pilot who steered the Cat and Racket so wisely gave way before
Madame Roguin's aggressive volubility. Austere Madame Guillaume was
the first to see in her daughter's affection a reason for abdicating
her principles and for consenting to receive Monsieur de Sommervieux,
whom she promised herself she would put under severe inquisition.

The old draper went to look for Joseph Lebas, and inform him of the
state of affairs. At half-past six, the dining-room immortalized by
the artist saw, united under its skylight, Monsieur and Madame Roguin,
the young painter and his charming Augustine, Joseph Lebas, who found
his happiness in patience, and Mademoiselle Virginie, convalescent
from her headache. Monsieur and Madame Guillaume saw in perspective
both their children married, and the fortunes of the Cat and Racket
once more in skilful hands. Their satisfaction was at its height when,
at dessert, Theodore made them a present of the wonderful picture
which they had failed to see, representing the interior of the old
shop, and to which they all owed so much happiness.

"Isn't it pretty!" cried Guillaume. "And to think that any one would