This mourning was noticed in the town, and commented on. It seemed to throw a light on M. Madeleine’s origin. It was concluded that some relationship existed between him and the venerable Bishop. “He has gone into mourning for the Bishop of Digne” said the drawing-rooms; this raised M. Madeleine’s credit greatly, and procured for him, instantly and at one blow, a certain consideration in the noble world of Montreuil-sur-Mer. The microscopic Faubourg Saint-Germain of the place meditated raising the quarantine against M. Madeleine, the probable relative of a bishop. M. Madeleine perceived the advancement which he had obtained, by the more numerous courtesies of the old women and the more plentiful smiles of the young ones. One evening, a ruler in that petty great world, who was curious by right of seniority, ventured to ask him, “ M. le Maire is doubtless a cousin of the late Bishop of Digne?”