That's a good deal,
you know, three hundred thousand francs! But every room in the house
is a perfect wonder. 'Good,' said I to myself when I saw this
magnificence; 'it is just like it used to be in the time of my lord,
his late grandfather; and the young marquis is going to entertain all
Paris and the Court!' Nothing of the kind! My lord refused to see any
one whatever. 'Tis a funny life that he leads, M. Porriquet, you
understand. An _inconciliable_ life. He rises every day at the same
time. I am the only person, you see, that may enter his room. I open
all the shutters at seven o'clock, summer or winter. It is all
arranged very oddly. As I come in I say to him:
"'You must get up and dress, my Lord Marquis.'
"Then he rises and dresses himself. I have to give him his
dressing-gown, and it is always after the same pattern, and of the
same material. I am obliged to replace it when it can be used no
longer, simply to save him the trouble of asking for a new one. A queer
fancy! As a matter of fact, he has a thousand francs to spend every day,
and he does as he pleases, the dear child. And besides, I am so fond of
him that if he gave me a box on the ear on one side, I should hold out
the other to him! The most difficult things he will tell me to do, and
yet I do them, you know! He gives me a lot of trifles to attend to,
that I am well set to work! He reads the newspapers, doesn't he? Well,
my instructions are to put them always in the same place, on the same
table.
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