It was arranged that the bishops and beneficed clergy should not appear prominently as supporting these candidates, but that they should be proposed and seconded by members of the assembly not suspected of being rigid partizans of the _ancien régime_. Monseigneur de Narbonne had given up the hope of being himself elected, and deemed it prudent not to allow his name to be proposed. At nine o’clock the Bishop of Évreux took his seat in the hall of the Seminary. The large windows admitted floods of light, and the casements were opened to allow the spring air to enter. The snow had wholly disappeared during the last few days, and a breath of vernal air had swept over the land, promising a return of warmth and beauty. The swallows were busy about the tower of S. Taurin; from the bishop’s seat the belfry was visible, and the scream of the excited birds that wheeled and darted to and fro was audible. Now and then a jackdaw dashed through the fluttering group with a dry stick in its beak, to add to the accumulation of years which encumbered the turret stairs. The Cathedral bell summoned the electors, and they came to their assembly-room in groups of two and three, and took their seats in silence. The bishop looked sullen and discontented; he sat rubbing his episcopal ring, breathing on it, and polishing it on his cuff, and then looking out of the window at the birds. His large fleshy cheeks hung down, and their usual beefy redness was changed to an unwholesome mottle of pink and purple. His barber had not attended on him that morning, or the prelate had been too busy to allow himself to be shaved, so that his chin and upper lip presented a rough appearance, which helped to make him look more ill at ease and out of condition than he had during the earlier part of the session. He took no notice of the clergy as they entered, and was regardless of Monsieur de la Ferronnais when he took his place near him. Every now and then he muttered to himself expressions of disgust at the situation in which he was placed, and aspirations for a speedy termination to the session. ‘Good morning, my dear Lord,’ said the Bishop of Lisieux, touching his arm. The Bishop of Évreux looked round sulkily, placed his hands on the arms of his chair, and raised himself slightly from the seat. Monseigneur de la Ferronnais was a bright old man, amiable, fond of fun, not particularly anxious about the turn matters took. He was sure that ‘all would come right in the end.’ ‘This is your last day in purgatory,’ he said to his colleague. ‘I thank Heaven,’ answered Monseigneur de Narbonne, without looking at him.