Then there was a son of eleven, who was the very picture of his father and who still played with a Noah’s ark; another son of four, who was allowed to do exactly as he pleased, and who abused the license to such an extent that there was not a whole piece of furniture in the house; and lastly, there was a little girl of eight, who assumed to play the mistress and to whip her two brothers, to show that she had already reached the age of reason. Add to these an ill-tempered dog which barked for five minutes at every new arrival, and a stout cat which always wore a collar of corks and had a plaster on its head, and you will know the whole Giraud family. I say nothing of the servant, because they changed servants every fortnight. I do not know whether those people were rich--I am not in the habit of prying into things which do not concern me--but I do not think that they were in such comfortable circumstances as they chose to make it appear. I have an idea that Monsieur Giraud, who tried to marry all the bachelors whom he met, exacted a commission--_droit_--for such marriages as he arranged; and it surely was not the _droit du seigneur_.[A] [A] The _droit du seigneur_ was the privilege enjoyed by the feudal lord of first sharing the bed of every newly-married woman among his feudatories. I reached the house. I went up to the third floor. I heard children crying and recognized the voices of Mademoiselle Joséphine Giraud and her older brother. Blended with them were the strains of a piano and a flute, from which I concluded that the party was at its height. I entered the dining room. A maid whom I did not know was filling glasses with sugar and water; I thought that she tasted it to make sure that it was good. The brother and sister were quarrelling over a piece of cake. At that moment Monsieur Giraud came from the salon, carrying in his hand a lamp with a globe; he came toward me with his lamp. “Is it you, my dear Monsieur Blémont? Delighted to see you. Ah! why didn’t you come a little earlier? Céran just sang, and he was in fine voice; it was wonderful! And we have just had a concerted piece for the flute and piano. Two amateurs; and they played it with extraordinary fire. This infernal lamp won’t burn; I don’t know what’s the matter with it. Come in, come in. We have a lot of people. There will be more singing. And there are some very pretty women; there are several marriageable ones, my dear fellow, and with good dowries. If you should happen to want--you know, you will have to come to it at last.--The devil take this lamp; the wick is new, too.”