“Of course, we know M. Favoral,” answered every one to the servant’s questions; “and, if there ever was an honest man, why, he is certainly the one.  There is a man whom you could trust with your funds, if you had any, without fear of his ever running off to Belgium with them.”  And it was further explained, that M. Favoral was chief cashier, and probably, also, one of the principal stockholders, of the Mutual Credit Society, one of those admirable financial institutions which have sprung up with the second empire, and which had won at the bourse the first installment of their capital, the very day that the game of the Coup d’Etat was being played in the street.

“I know well enough the gentleman’s business,” remarked the servant; “but what sort of a man is he?  That’s what my cousin would like to know.”

The wine-man at No. 43, the oldest shop-keeper in the street, could best answer.  A couple of petits-verres politely offered soon started his tongue; and, whilst sipping his Cognac: 

“M.  Vincent Favoral,” he began, “is a man some fifty-two or three years old, but who looks younger, not having a single gray hair.  He is tall and thin, with neatly-trimmed whiskers, thin lips, and small yellow eyes; not talkative.  It takes more ceremony to get a word from his throat than a dollar from his pocket.  ‘Yes,’ ‘no,’ ‘good-morning,’ ‘good-evening;’ that’s about the extent of his conversation.  Summer and winter, he wears gray pantaloons, a long frock-coat, laced shoes, and lisle-thread gloves.  ’Pon my word, I should say that he is still wearing the very same clothes I saw upon his back for the first time in 1845, did I not know that he has two full suits made every year by the concierge at No. 29, who is also a tailor.”

“Why, he must be an old miser,” muttered the servant.

“He is above all peculiar,” continued the shop-keeper, “like most men of figures, it seems.  His own life is ruled and regulated like the pages of his ledger.  In the neighborhood they call him Old Punctuality; and, when he passes through the Rue Turenne, the merchants set their watches by him.  Rain or shine, every morning of the year, on the stroke of nine, he appears at the door on the way to his office.  When he returns, you may be sure it is between twenty and twenty-five minutes past five.  At six he dines; at seven he goes to play a game of dominoes at the Cafe Turc; at ten he comes home and goes to bed; and, at the first stroke of eleven at the Church of St. Louis, out goes his candle.”

“Hem!” grumbled the servant with a look of contempt, “the question is, will my cousin be willing to live with a man who is a sort of walking clock?”

“It isn’t always pleasant,” remarked the wine-man; “and the best evidence is, that the son, M. Maxence, got tired of it.”

“He does not live with his parents any more?”

“He dines with them; but he has his own lodgings on the Boulevard du Temple.  The falling-out made talk enough at the time; and some people do say that M. Maxence is a worthless scamp, who leads a very dissipated life; but I say that his father kept him too close.  The boy is twenty-five, quite good looking, and has a very stylish mistress:  I have seen her. . . .  I would have done just as he did.”