No doubt Madame Steno and Alba, thought Julien; and the Baron entered, accompanied by Peppino Ardea.
While going through the introductions, the writer was struck by the contrast offered between his three companions.

Hafner and Ardea in evening dress, with buttonhole bouquets, had the open and happy faces of two citizens who had clear consciences.

The usually sallow complexion of the business man was tinged with excitement, his eyes, as a rule so hard, were gentler.

As for the Prince, the same childish carelessness lighted up his jovial face, while the hero of Patay, with his coarse boots, his immense form enveloped in a somewhat shabby redingote, exhibited a face so contracted that one would have thought him devoured by remorse.

A dishonest intendant, forced to expose his accounts to generous and confiding masters, could not have had a face more gloomy or more anxious.