A colleague of Mr．Carré-Lamadon in the General Council,Count Hubert represented the Orléans party in the Department．
The story of his marriage with the daughter of a little captain of a privateer had always remained a mystery．But as the Countess had a grand air, received better than anyone,and passed for having been loved by the son of Louis Philippe,all the nobility did her honor,and her salon remained the first in the country,the only one which preserved the old gallantry,and to which the entrée was difficult．The fortune of the Brevilles amounted,it was said,to five hundred thousand francs in income,all in good securities．
These six persons formed the foundation of the carriage company,the society side,serene and strong,honest,established people,who had both religion and principles．
By a strange chance,all the women were upon the same seat;and the Countess had for neighbors two sisters who picked at long strings of beads and muttered some paters and Aves．One was old and as pitted with smallpox as if she had received a broadside of grapeshot full in the face．The other,very sad,had a pretty face and a disease of the lungs,which,added to their devoted faith,illumined them and made them appear like martyrs．
Opposite these two devotees were a man and a woman who attracted the notice of all．The man,well known,was Cornudet the democrat,the terror of respectable people．For twenty years he had soaked his great red beard in the books of all the democratic cafés．He had consumed with his friends and confrères a rather pretty fortune left him by his father,all old confectioner,and he awaited the establishing of the Republic with impatience,that he might have the position he merited by his great expenditures．On the fourth of September,by some joke perhaps,he believed himself elected prefect,but when he went to assume the duties,the clerks of the office were masters of the place and re-fused to recognize him,obliging him to retreat．Rather a good bachelor,on the whole,inoffensive and service-able,he had busied himself,with incomparable ardor,in organizing the defense against the Prussians．He had dug holes in all the plains,cut down young trees from the neighboring forests,sown snares over all routes and,at the approach of the enemy,took himself quickly back to the town．He now thought he could be of more use in Havre where more entrenchments would be necessary．
The woman,one of those called a coquette,was celebrated for her embonpoint,which had given her the nickname of"Ball-of-Fat．"Small,round,and fat as lard,with puffy fingers choked at the phalanges,like chaplets of short sausages;with a stretched and shining skin,an enormous bosom which shook under her dress,she was,nevertheless,pleasing and sought after,on ac-count of a certain freshness and breeziness of disposition．Her face was a round apple,a peony bud ready to pop into bloom,and inside that opened two great black eyes,shaded with thick brows that cast a shadow with-in;and below,a charming mouth,humid for kissing,furnished with shining,microscopic baby teeth． She was,it was said,full of admirable qualities ．
As soon as she was recognized,a whisper went around among the honest women,and the words"prostitute"and"public shame"were whispered so loud that she raised her head．Then she threw at her neighbors such a provoking,courageous look that a great silence reigned,and everybody looked down except Loiseau,who watched her with an exhilarated air．
And immediately conversation began among the three ladies,whom the presence of this girl had suddenly rendered friendly,almost intimate．It seemed to them they should bring their married dignity into union in opposition to that sold without shame;for legal love always takes on a tone of contempt for its free confrère．
The three men,also drawn together by an instinct of preservation at the sight of Cornudet,talked money with a certain high tone of disdain for the poor．Count Hubert talked of the havoc which the Prussians had caused,the losses which resulted from being robbed of cattle and from destroyed crops,with the assurance of a great lord,ten times millionaire whom these ravages would scarcely cramp for a year．Mr．Carré-Lamadon,largely experienced in the cotton industry,had had need of sending six hundred thousand francs to England,as a trifle in reserve if it should be needed．As for Loiseau,he had arranged with the French administration to sell them all the wines that remained in his cellars,on ac-count of which the State owed him a formidable sum,which he counted on collecting at Havre．
And all three threw toward each other swift and amicable glances．
Although in different conditions,they felt them-selves to be brothers through money,that grand free-masonry of those who possess it,and make the gold rattle by putting their hands in their trousers'pockets．
The carriage went so slowly that at ten o'clock in the morning they had not gone four leagues．The men had got down three times to climb hills on foot．They began to be disturbed because they should be now taking breakfast at
begun to watch for an inn along the route,when the carriage foundered in a snowdrift,and it took two hours to extricate it．