Thus the Phellions formed a phalanx of seven persons; the Collevilles were not less numerous; so that on Sundays it often appeared that thirty persons were assembled in the Thuillier salon.

Thuillier renewed acquaintance with the Saillards, Baudoyers, and Falleixs,--all persons of respectability in the quarter of the Palais-Royal, whom they often invited to dinner.
Madame Colleville was, as a woman, the most distinguished member of this society, just as Minard junior and Professor Phellion were superior among the men.

All the others, without ideas or education, and issuing from the lower ranks, presented the types and the absurdities of the lesser bourgeoisie.

Though all success, especially if won from distant sources, seems to presuppose some genuine merit, Minard was really an inflated balloon.

Expressing himself in empty phrases, mistaking sycophancy for politeness, and wordiness for wit, he uttered his commonplaces with a brisk assurance that passed for eloquence.