Page:Novels of Honoré de Balzac Volume 23.djvu/277

 wanted to take Désiré’s arm, but, by refusing it to him, the deputy disowned his friend in the presence of all Nemours.

“I must not get angry, or I should not be able to avenge myself any more,” thought the head clerk, whose unfeeling heart swelled like a sponge in his bosom.

Before raising the seals and proceeding to the inventory, time was needed for the attorney for the crown, the legal guardian of orphans, to appoint Bongrand as his representative. The Minoret inheritance, which was talked about for ten days, was then examined, and was verified with all the strictness of legal formalities. Dionis got something by it, Goupil liked doing wrong well enough; and, as the speculation was a good one, the sittings multiplied. After the first sitting they nearly always breakfasted. The notary, the clerk, heirs and witnesses used to drink the rarest wines in the cellar.