It is promised and done.
Ugh! the sickening heat from the stove! the disgusting odor of musty papers! However, Amedee had nothing to complain of; they might have given him figures to balance for five hours at a time.

He owed it to M.Courtet's kindness, that he was put at once into the correspondence room.

He studied the formulas, and soon became skilful in official politeness.

He now knew the delicate shades which exist between "yours respectfully" and "most respectfully yours;" and he measured the abyss which separates an "agreeable" and "homage." To sum it all up, Amedee was bored, but he was not unhappy; for he had time to dream.
He went the longest way to the office in the morning, while seeking to make "amour" rhyme with "jour" without producing an insipid thing; or else he thought of the third act of his drama after the style of 1830, and the grand love scene which should take place at the foot of the Montfaucon gallows.

In the evening he went to the Gerards, and they seated themselves around--the lamp which stood on the dining-room table, the father reading his journal, the women sewing.