All the female servants in his house were called Nicolette（even the Magnon，of whom we shall hear more farther on）.One day，a haughty cook，a cordon bleu，of the lofty race of porters，presented herself.'How much wages do you want a month？'asked M.Gillenormand.'Thirty francs.'
'What is your name？'
'Olympie.'
'You shall have fifty francs，and you shall be called Nicolette.'
BOOK SECOND.——THE GREAT BOURGEOIS
Ⅵ IN WHICH MAGNON AND HER TWO CHILDREN ARE SEEN
With M.Gillenormand，sorrow was converted into wrath；he was furious at being in despair.
He had all sorts of prejudices and took all sorts of liberties.
One of the facts of which his exterior relief and his internal satisfaction was composed，was，as we have just hinted，that he had remained a brisk spark，and that he passed energetically for such.
This he called having'royal renown.'This royal renown sometimes drew down upon him singular windfalls.One day，there was brought to him in a basket，as though it had been a basket of oysters，a stout，newly born boy，who was yelling like the deuce，and duly wrapped in swaddling-clothes，which a servant-maid，dismissed six months previously，attributed to him.M.Gillenormand had，at that time，fully completed his eighty-fourth year.
Indignation and uproar in the establishment.And whom did that bold hussy think she could persuade to believe that？What audacity！
What an abominable calumny！
M.Gillenormand himself was not at all enraged.
He gazed at the brat with the amiable smile of a good man who is flattered by the calumny，and said in an aside：'Well，what now？
What's the matter？
You are finely taken aback，and really，you are excessively ignorant.
M.le Duc d'Angouleme，the bastard of his Majesty Charles IX.，married a silly jade of fifteen when he was eighty-five；M.Virginal，Marquis d'Alluye，brother to the Cardinal de Sourdis，Archbishop of Bordeaux，had，at the age of eighty-three，by the maid of Madame la Presidente Jacquin，a son，a real child of love，who became a Chevalier of Malta and a counsellor of state；one of the great men of this century，the Abbe Tabaraud，is the son of a man of eighty-seven.There is nothing out of the ordinary in these things.
And then，the Bible！Upon that I declare that this little gentleman is none of mine.Let him be taken care of.
It is not his fault.'
This manner of procedure was good-tempered.The woman，whose name was Magnon，sent him another parcel in the following year.
It was a boy again.Thereupon，M.Gillenormand capitulated.
He sent the two brats back to their mother，promising to pay eighty francs a month for their maintenance，on the condition that the said mother would not do so any more.
He added：
'I insist upon it that the mother shall treat them well.
I shall go to see them from time to time.'And this he did.
He had had a brother who was a priest，and who had been rector of the Academy of Poitiers for three and thirty years，and had died at seventy-nine.'I lost him young，'said he.This brother，of whom but little memory remains，was a peaceable miser，who，being a priest，thought himself bound to bestow alms on the poor whom he met，but he never gave them anything except bad or demonetized sous，thereby discovering a means of going to hell by way of paradise.
As for M.Gillenormand the elder，he never haggled over his alms-giving，but gave gladly and nobly.He was kindly，abrupt，charitable，and if he had been rich，his turn of mind would have been magnificent.
He desired that all which concerned him should be done in a grand manner，even his rogueries.
One day，having been cheated by a business man in a matter of inheritance，in a gross and apparent manner，he uttered this solemn exclamation：
'That was indecently done！I am really ashamed of this pilfering.
Everything has degenerated in this century，even the rascals.
Morbleu！this is not the way to rob a man of my standing.
I am robbed as though in a forest，but badly robbed.
Silva，sint consule dignae！'
He had had two wives，as we have already mentioned；by the first he had had a daughter，who had remained unmarried，and by the second another daughter，who had died at about the age of thirty，who had wedded，through love，or chance，or otherwise，a soldier of fortune who had served in the armies of the Republic and of the Empire，who had won the cross at Austerlitz and had been made colonel at Waterloo.'He is the disgrace of my family，'said the old bourgeois.He took an immense amount of snuff，and had a particularly graceful manner of plucking at his lace ruffle with the back of one hand.He believed very little in God.
BOOK SECOND.——THE GREAT BOURGEOIS
Ⅶ RULE：
RECEIVE NO ONE EXCEPT IN THE EVENING
Such was M.Luc-Esprit Gillenormand，who had not lost his hair，——which was gray rather than white，——and which was always dressed in'dog's ears.'
To sum up，he was venerable in spite of all this.
He had something of the eighteenth century about him；frivolous and great.
In 1814 and during the early years of the Restoration，M.Gillenormand，who was still young，——he was only seventy-four，——lived in the Faubourg Saint Germain，Rue Servandoni，near Saint-Sulpice.He had only retired to the Marais when he quitted society，long after attaining the age of eighty.
And，on abandoning society，he had immured himself in his habits.The principal one，and that which was invariable，was to keep his door absolutely closed during the day，and never to receive any one whatever except in the evening.
He dined at five o'clock，and after that his door was open.
That had been the fashion of his century，and he would not swerve from it.
'The day is vulgar，'said he，'and deserves only a closed shutter.
Fashionable people only light up their minds when the zenith lights up its stars.'
And he barricaded himself against every one，even had it been the king himself.This was the antiquated elegance of his day.
BOOK SECOND.——THE GREAT BOURGEOIS
Ⅷ TWO DO NOT MAKE A PAIR
We have just spoken of M.Gillenormand's two daughters.
They had come into the world ten years apart.