the household, in obedience, no doubt, to these old customs, he stood
sternly awaiting the appearance of his three assistants, ready to
scold them in case they were late. These young disciples of Mercury
knew nothing more terrible than the wordless assiduity with which the
master scrutinized their faces and their movements on Monday in search
of evidence or traces of their pranks. But at this moment the old
clothier paid no heed to his apprentices; he was absorbed in trying to
divine the motive of the anxious looks which the young man in silk
stockings and a cloak cast alternately at his signboard and into the
depths of his shop. The daylight was now brighter, and enabled the
stranger to discern the cashier's corner enclosed by a railing and
screened by old green silk curtains, where were kept the immense
ledgers, the silent oracles of the house. The too inquisitive gazer
seemed to covet this little nook, and to be taking the plan of a
dining-room at one side, lighted by a skylight, whence the family at
meals could easily see the smallest incident that might occur at the
shop-door. So much affection for his dwelling seemed suspicious to a
trader who had lived long enough to remember the law of maximum
prices; Monsieur Guillaume naturally thought that this sinister
personage had an eye to the till of the Cat and Racket. After quietly
observing the mute duel which was going on between his master and the
stranger, the eldest of the apprentices, having seen that the young
man was stealthily watching the windows of the third floor, ventured
to place himself on the stone flag where Monsieur Guillaume was
standing. He took two steps out into the street, raised his head, and
fancied that he caught sight of Mademoiselle Augustine Guillaume in
hasty retreat. The draper, annoyed by his assistant's perspicacity,
shot a side glance at him; but the draper and his amorous apprentice
were suddenly relieved from the fears which the young man's presence
had excited in their minds. He hailed a hackney cab on its way to a