The young lawyer was struck with
admiration for the depth of his father's insight, touched by his
cordiality, and especially by the deferential tone which seemed to
place the two men on a footing of equality.
Monsieur Hulot _junior_ was in every respect the young Frenchman, as
he has been moulded by the Revolution of 1830; his mind infatuated
with politics, respectful of his own hopes, and concealing them under
an affectation of gravity, very envious of successful men, making
sententiousness do the duty of witty rejoinders--the gems of the
French language--with a high sense of importance, and mistaking
arrogance for dignity.
Such men are walking coffins, each containing a Frenchman of the past;
now and again the Frenchman wakes up and kicks against his
English-made casing; but ambition stifles him, and he submits to be
smothered. The coffin is always covered with black cloth.
"Ah, here is my brother!" said Baron Hulot, going to meet the Count at
the drawing-room door.
Having greeted the probable successor of the late Marshal Montcornet,
he led him forward by the arm with every show of affection and
respect.
The older man, a member of the Chamber of Peers, but excused from
attendance on account of his deafness, had a handsome head, chilled by
age, but with enough gray hair still to be marked in a circle by the
pressure of his hat.
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