Such agents do reach in time a divine serenity which nothing surprises
or confounds; just as in love we come to the divine quietude of that
emotion, sure of its strength, sure of its lastingness, through our
constant experience of its pains and sweetnesses.
Godefroid was told that Halpersohn had returned during the night, but
had been obliged to go out at once to visit patients who were awaiting
him. The porter told Godefroid to come the next day before nine
o'clock in the morning.
Remembering Monsieur Alain's injunction to parsimony in his personal
expenses, Godefroid dined for twenty-five sous in the rue de Tournon,
and was rewarded for his abnegation by finding himself in the midst of
compositors and pressmen. He heard a discussion on costs of
manufacturing, and learned that an edition of one thousand copies of
an octavo volume of forty sheets did not cost more than thirty sous a
copy, in the best style of printing. He resolved to ascertain the
price at which publishers of law books sold their volumes, so as to be
prepared for a discussion with the men who held Monsieur Bernard in
their clutches if he should have to meet them.
Towards seven in the evening he returned to the boulevard du
Mont-Parnasse, by way of the rue de Vaugiraud and the rue de l'Ouest,
and he saw then how deserted the quarter was, for he met no one. It is
true that the cold was rigorous, and the snow fell in great flakes,
the wheels of the carriages making no noise upon the pavements.
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