{"product_id":"2940013375130","title":"The Count","description":"PASCAL AND MARGUERITE.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was a Thursday evening, the fifteenth of October; and although only\u003cbr\u003ehalf-past six o'clock, it had been dark for some time already. The\u003cbr\u003eweather was cold, and the sky was as black as ink, while the wind blew\u003cbr\u003etempestuously, and the rain fell in torrents.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe servants at the Hotel de Chalusse, one of the most magnificent\u003cbr\u003emansions in the Rue de Courcelles in Paris, were assembled in the\u003cbr\u003eporter's lodge, a little building comprising a couple of rooms standing\u003cbr\u003eon the right hand side of the great gateway. Here, as in all large\u003cbr\u003emansions, the \"concierge\" or porter, M. Bourigeau, was a person of\u003cbr\u003eimmense importance, always able and disposed to make any one who was\u003cbr\u003einclined to doubt his authority, feel it in cruel fashion. As could be\u003cbr\u003eeasily seen, he held all the other servants in his power. He could\u003cbr\u003elet them absent themselves without leave, if he chose, and conceal all\u003cbr\u003ereturns late at night after the closing of public balls and wine-shops.\u003cbr\u003eThus, it is needless to say that M. Bourigeau and his wife were treated\u003cbr\u003eby their fellow-servants with the most servile adulation.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe owner of the house was not at home that evening, so that M. Casimir,\u003cbr\u003ethe count's head valet, was serving coffee for the benefit of all the\u003cbr\u003eretainers. And while the company sipped the fragrant beverage which had\u003cbr\u003ebeen generously tinctured with cognac, provided by the butler, they all\u003cbr\u003eunited in abusing their common enemy, the master of the house. For the\u003cbr\u003etime being, a pert little waiting-maid, with an odious turn-up nose, had\u003cbr\u003ethe floor. She was addressing her remarks to a big, burly, and rather\u003cbr\u003einsolent-looking fellow, who had been added only the evening before to\u003cbr\u003ethe corps of footmen. \"The place is really intolerable,\" she was saying.\u003cbr\u003e\"The wages are high, the food of the very best, the livery just such\u003cbr\u003eas would show off a good-looking man to the best advantage, and Madame\u003cbr\u003eLeon, the housekeeper, who has entire charge of everything, is not too\u003cbr\u003elynx-eyed.\"","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47145631645936,"sku":"2940013375130","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013375130_p0.jpg?v=1763580409","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013375130","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}