And he saw the absurdity of his emotion, for hadn't he lived all these days under the very cloud?
The professor, his elbows spread out, looked down into the garden and went on unburdening his mind.

Yes.

The department of sentiment was directed by his daughter, and she had plenty of volunteered moral support; but he had to look after the practical side of life without assistance.
"I have the less hesitation in speaking to you about my anxiety, because I feel you are friendly to us and at the same time you are detached from all these sublimities--confound them." "What do you mean ?" murmured Renouard.
"I mean that you are capable of calm judgment.

Here the atmosphere is simply detestable.

Everybody has knuckled under to sentiment.