he had been appointed, much to his regret, a member of the
Council-general of the department--"a waste of time," he remarked.
Sometimes his brother bankers with whom he had dealings kept him to
breakfast or dinner; and he was forced also to visit his former
partners, who spent their winters in Limoges. He cared so little to
keep up his relations to society that in twenty-five years Graslin had
not offered so much as a glass of water to any one. When he passed
along the street persons would nudge each other and say: "That's
Monsieur Graslin"; meaning, "There's a man who came to Limoges without
a penny and has now acquired an enormous fortune." The Auvergnat
banker was a model which more than one father pointed out to his son,
and wives had been known to fling him in the faces of their husbands.

We can now understand the reasons that led a man who had become the
pivot of the financial machine of Limoges to repulse the various
propositions of marriage which parents never ceased to make to him.
The daughters of his partners, Messrs. Perret and Grossetete, were
married before Graslin was in a position to take a wife; but as each
of these ladies had young daughters, the wiseheads of the community
finally concluded that old Perret or old Grossetete had made an
arrangement with Graslin to wait for one of his granddaughters, and
thenceforth they left him alone.

Sauviat had watched the ascending career of his compatriot more
attentively and seriously than any one else. He had known him from the
time he first came to Limoges; but their respective positions had
changed so much, at least apparently, that their friendship, now
become merely superficial, was seldom freshened. Still, in his
relation as compatriot, Graslin never disdained to talk with Sauviat
when they chanced to meet. Both continued to keep up their early