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Madame Vauthier, who during this time had been preparing her new lodger's breakfast, now came up to serve it, attended by Felicite. Godefroid, lost in reflection, stared into his fire.
On the mantel-shelf was a vase between two candlesticks, and no other ornament. On either side of the divan were corner-buffets of ebony, holding plates and dishes, and Godefroid also noticed upon them two silver bowls, glass decanters, and napkins. This simplicity, which amounted almost to bareness struck Godefroid, whose quick eye took it all in as he recovered his self-possession.
These feelings would have been unnaturally sudden in a busy Parisian eagerly occupied with life, but Godefroid was, as we have seen, in the position of a drowning man who catches at every floating branch thinking it a solid stay, and his soul, ploughed and furrowed with trial, was ready to receive all seed.
The man who had said the beneficent words passed on by the wall of the cathedral, taking, as a result of chance, which often leads to great results, the direction of the street from which the dreamer came, and to which he was now returning, led by the faults of his life. This dreamer was named Godefroid.
I myself obtained permission from the prefecture of police that they should carry arms." "Monsieur," said Godefroid, "I am not afraid of robbers, for the same reasons that make those gentlemen invulnerable; and I despise life so heartily that if I were murdered by mistake I should bless the murderer!" "You do not look to me very unhappy," said the old man, examining Godefroid.
For Godefroid, the hotel de la Chanterie now held a woman and a book; day by day he loved the woman more; he discovered flowers buried beneath the snows of winter in her heart; he had glimpses of the joys of a sacred friendship which religion permits, on which the angels smile; a friendship which here united these five persons and against which no evil could prevail.
Godefroid went there at once, and obtained from Madame de la Chanterie the address of a painter who, for a moderate sum, agreed to whiten the ceilings, clean the windows, paint the woodwork, and stain the floors, within a week. Godefroid took the measure of the rooms, intending to put the same carpet in all of them, a green carpet of the cheapest kind.
"Rest, without the prayers that enlivened monasteries, without the meditation which peopled the Thebaids, becomes a disease," said Monsieur Joseph, sententiously. "Learn book-keeping," said Monsieur Mongenod, with a smile; "you might become in a few months very useful to my friends here." "Oh! with pleasure," cried Godefroid.
He held out his hand to Godefroid, and pressed that which the young man gave him in return. "You wish to keep your incognito?" he said, looking at Godefroid sadly, with some uneasiness. "If you will allow it." "Well, as you will. Come to-night, and you shall see my daughter if her condition permits."
"If I have dwelt on these details, which are so commonplace and seem so slight," said the worthy man, looking at Godefroid, "it is not without good reason. I want to explain to you how I was led to act, as most men act, in defiance of the rules which savages observe in the smallest matters.
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