Indeed, the dream of every citizen of the new town is to be admitted to a drawing-room of the Saint-Marc quarter.

They know very well that their ambition is not attainable, and it is this which makes them proclaim all the louder that they are freethinkers.

But they are freethinkers in words only; firm friends of the authorities, they are ready to rush into the arms of the first deliverer at the slightest indication of popular discontent.
The group which toils and vegetates in the old quarter is not so clearly defined as the others.

The labouring classes are here in a majority; but retail dealers and even a few wholesale traders are to be found among them.

As a matter of fact, Plassans is far from being a commercial centre; there is only just sufficient trade to dispose of the products of the country--oil, wine, and almonds.