At the time when Madame Bridau returned to Issoudun to save--as Maitre Desroches expressed it--an inheritance that was seriously threatened, Jean-Jacques Rouget had reached by degrees a condition that was semi-vegetative.

In the first place, after Max's instalment, Flore put the table on an episcopal footing.

Rouget, thrown in the way of good living, ate more and still more, enticed by the Vedie's excellent dishes.

He grew no fatter, however, in spite of this abundant and luxurious nourishment.

From day to day he weakened like a worn-out man,--fatigued, perhaps, with the effort of digestion,--and his eyes had dark circles around them.