an accomplice; then he shunned my eye as he saw it open a mouth, so
to speak, insisting on a reply, and seeming to say, 'Speak first!'
Now and then Comte Octave's melancholy was surly and gruff. If these
spurts of temper offended me, he could get over it without thinking of
asking my pardon; but then his manners were gracious to the point of
Christian humility.

"When I became attached like a son to this man--to me such a mystery,
but so intelligible to the outer world, to whom the epithet eccentric
is enough to account for all the enigmas of the heart--I changed the
state of the house. Neglect of his own interests was carried by the
Count to the length of folly in the management of his affairs.
Possessing an income of about a hundred and sixty thousand francs,
without including the emoluments of his appointments--three of which
did not come under the law against plurality--he spent sixty thousand,
of which at least thirty thousand went to his servants. By the end of
the first year I had got rid of all these rascals, and begged His
Excellency to use his influence in helping me to get honest servants.
By the end of the second year the Count, better fed and better served,
enjoyed the comforts of modern life; he had fine horses, supplied by a
coachman to whom I paid so much a month for each horse; his dinners on
his reception days, furnished by Chevet at a price agreed upon, did
him credit; his daily meals were prepared by an excellent cook found
by my uncle, and helped by two kitchenmaids. The expenditure for
housekeeping, not including purchases, was no more than thirty
thousand francs a year; we had two additional men-servants, whose care
restored the poetical aspect of the house; for this old palace,
splendid even in its rust, had an air of dignity which neglect had
dishonored.