CHAPTER xxv

A1 a time of great strain and unhappiness a com-
paratively insignificant event may discover the
chink in our armour; an event connected, as likely as
not, with an equally insignificant person, and thus
it was Madame Simon's son, Guillaume, who became
all unwittingly instrumental in causing the first
sign of faltering in Marie.
A good fellow, a kind-hearted fellow this Guillaume,
with a tender and perhaps over-scrupulous conscience,
so that from very anxiety not to injure or wound he
frequently blundered* Then again, at the moment he
was tactless with love of Clotilde, the notary's
scatter-brained daughter. Clotilde had sharp, im-
pertinent eyes, and lips that were harshly defined
by lip-stick* Her hair was crimped, her handker-
chiefs scented, and her nails too shiny, too red and
too pointed. All of which Guillaume found intensely
alluring; and if his parents felt doubtful at moments
they were careful to keep those doubts to themselves
— the daughter of a Marseille notary was a match
of considerable social importance.
The wedding had been postponed for two months
owing to the trouble in finding an apartment, since
Clotilde considered that parents-in-law were only
endurable at a distance; nothing would induce her to
share their roof, and this she had made very clear to
her fiance.
*I will not live over a shop/ she had stated, 'especi-
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