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M Chateaudoux, the chamberlain, was a little portly person with a

round, red face like a cherub's He was a creature of the house, one

that walked with delicate steps, a conductor of ceremonies, an expert in

the subtleties of etiquette; and once he held his wand of office in his

hand, there was nowhere to be found a being so precise and

consequential But out of doors he had the timidity of a cat He lived,

however, by rule and rote, and since it had always been his habit to

take the air between three and four of the afternoon, he was to be seen

between those hours at Innspruck on any fine daythe

avenue of trees before the villa in which histhe month of October he passed a hawker, who,

tired with his day's tra on a bench in the avenue, and

who carried upon his ared; his toes were thrusting through his shoes; it was evident that

he wore no linen, and a week's growth of beard dirtily stubbled his

chin,--in a word, he was a man from whom M Chateaudoux's prim soul

positively shrank M Chateaudoux went quickly by, fearing to be

pestered for alms The hawker, however, re idle patterns upon the gravel with a hazel stick stolen froerow

The next afternoon the haas in the avenue again, only this tiain he paid no heed to M

Chateaudoux, but sat ravel with his stick