“Let us begin with a first principle, Mme. la Générale,” observed Mme. Cléry, demurely slapping the palm of her left hand. “Mlle. Aline is _née_; the father and mother of mamzelle were both of an excellent family; it is consequently of the first necessity that her husband should be so, too; the first thing, therefore, to be considered in a suitor is his name. Now, has M. Dalibouze the _particule_, or has he not?” It was a very great effort for Mme. de Chanoir to keep her countenance under this charge and deliver with which the old woman solemnly closed her speech, and then stood awaiting the effect on her listener; still, such is the weakness of human nature, the générale in her inmost heart was flattered by it; it was pleasant to be looked up to as belonging to a race above the common herd, to be recognized in spite of her poverty, even by a _femme de ménage_, as superior to the wealthy parvenus whose fathers and mothers were not of a good family. “My good Mme. Cléry,” she said after a moment’s reflection, “you, like ourselves, were brought up with very different ideas from those that people hold nowadays. Nobody cares a straw to‐day who a man’s father was, or whether he had the _particule_ or not; all that they care about is that he should be well educated, and well conducted, and well off; and, my dear, one must go with the times, one must give in to the force of public opinion around one. Customs change with the times. I would, of course, much rather have a brother‐in‐law of our own rank than one cleverer and richer who was not; but what would you have? One cannot have everything. It is not pleasant for me to see Mlle. de Lemaque earning her own bread, running about the streets like a milliner’s apprentice at all hours of the day. I would overlook something to see her married to a kind, honorable man who would keep her in comfort and independence.” “_Bonté divine!_” exclaimed Mme. Cléry, with a look of deep distress and consternation, “madame would then actually marry mamzelle to a _bourgeois sans particule_? For madame admits that M. Dalibouze has not the _particule_, that he spells his name with a big _D_?” “Alas! he does,” confessed the générale; “but he comes, nevertheless, of a good old Normandy stock, Mme. Cléry; his great‐grandfather was _procureur du roi_ under—” “Tut! tut!” interrupted Mme. Cléry; “his great‐grandfather may have been what he liked; if he wasn’t a gentleman, he has no business marrying his great grandson to a de Lemaque. No, madame; I am a poor woman, but I know better than that. Mamzelle’s father would turn in his grave if he saw her married to a man who spelt his name with a big _D_.”