house constructed in the same manner as that of Beauvisage on the
Place du Pont. Madame Mollot, forever seated at the window of her
salon on the ground-floor, was attacked (as the result of that
situation) by intense, acute, insatiable curiosity, now become a
chronic and inveterate disease. The moment a peasant entered the
square from the road to Brienne she saw him, and watched to see what
business could have brought him to Arcis; she had no peace of mind
until that peasant was explained. She spent her life in judging the
events, men, things, and households of Arcis.

The ambition of the house of Mollot, father, mother, and daughter, was
to marry Ernestine (an only daughter) to Antonin Goulard. Consequently
the refusal of the Beauvisage parents to entertain the proposals of
the sub-prefect had tightened the bonds of friendship between the two
families.

"There's an impatient man!" said Ernestine to Cecile, indicating Simon
Giguet. "He wants to come and talk with us; but every one who comes in
feels bound to congratulate him. I've heard him say fifty times
already: 'It is, I think, less to me than to my father that this
compliment of my fellow-citizens has been paid; but, in any case, pray
believe that I shall be devoted not only to our general interests but
to yours individually.' I can guess those words by the motion of his
lips, and all the while he is looking at you with an air of
martyrdom."

"Ernestine," replied Cecile, "don't leave me the whole evening; I
don't want to listen to his proposals made under cover of 'alases!'
and mingled with sighs."