The notary's nose;

THE NOTARY'S NOSE. 5
thousand francs-that it to say, it netted,
year in. and year out, about twenty thousand dollars. For two centuries and more,
the eldest sons had worn the white cravat
of their office as naturally as crows wear
black feathers, drunkards red noses, or
poets seedy clothes. Legitimate heir of
a name and fortune of no mean pretensions, little Alfred had sucked in sound
principles with his milk. He duly detested all the novelties which had been
introduced into French politics after the
catastrophe of I789. In his eyes, the
French nation was made up of three
classes: the clergy, the nobility, and the
commonalty-a very respectable opinion,
and held even now by a few senators. He
modestly counted himself among the foremost of the commonalty; not, however,
without some secret pretensions to the nobility conferred by the judicial robe. He
held in loftiest scorn the bulk of the