"They want this, they don't want that," he would say.

The concealed divinities who thus watched over the destinies of Plassans from behind some cloud, without appearing to interfere directly in public matters, must have been certain priests, the great political agents of the country.

When the marquis pronounced that mysterious word "they," which inspired the assembly with such marvellous respect, Vuillet confessed, with a gesture of pious devotion, that he knew them very well.
The happiest person in all this was Felicite.

At last she had people coming to her drawing-room.

It was true she felt a little ashamed of her old yellow velvet furniture.