official authority.

"'Monsieur,' said I, 'would it be indiscreet if I were to ask you the
reasons for such eccentricity?'

"At these words an expression, which revealed all the pleasure which
men feel who are accustomed to ride a hobby, overspread the lawyer's
countenance. He pulled up the collar of his shirt with an air, took
out his snuffbox, opened it, and offered me a pinch; on my refusing,
he took a large one. He was happy! A man who has no hobby does not
know all the good to be got out of life. A hobby is the happy medium
between a passion and a monomania. At this moment I understood the
whole bearing of Sterne's charming passion, and had a perfect idea of
the delight with which my uncle Toby, encouraged by Trim, bestrode his
hobby-horse.

"'Monsieur,' said Monsieur Regnault, 'I was head-clerk in Monsieur
Roguin's office, in Paris. A first-rate house, which you may have
heard mentioned? No! An unfortunate bankruptcy made it famous.--Not
having money enough to purchase a practice in Paris at the price to
which they were run up in 1816, I came here and bought my
predecessor's business. I had relations in Vendome; among others, a
wealthy aunt, who allowed me to marry her daughter.--Monsieur,' he
went on after a little pause, 'three months after being licensed by
the Keeper of the Seals, one evening, as I was going to bed--it was
before my marriage--I was sent for by Madame la Comtesse de Merret, to
her Chateau of Merret. Her maid, a good girl, who is now a servant in
this inn, was waiting at my door with the Countess' own carriage. Ah!
one moment! I ought to tell you that Monsieur le Comte de Merret had
gone to Paris to die two months before I came here. He came to a