A little old man with a head like a baboon--the scientific examiner--tried to make Amedee flounder on the subject of nitrogen, but he passed all the same.

One can hope for everything nowadays.
But what could Amedee hope for first?
M.Violette thought of it when he was not at his station at the Rue du Four.

What could he hope for?
Nothing very great.
Probably he could enter the ministry as an auxiliary.

One hundred francs a month, and the gratuities, would not be bad for a beginner! M.
Violette recalled his endless years in the office, and all the trouble he had taken to guess a famous rebus that was celebrated for never having been solved.

Was Amedee to spend his youth deciphering enigmas?
M.Violette hoped for a more independent career for his son, if it were possible.