On one side was a desk covered with account books, and against the wall were sacks of seed.

A number of books on legal matters crowded the shelves, and from the ceiling hung a quantity of dried herbs.

The Counsellor welcomed the heir to the dukedom of Champdoce with the greatest deference, seated him in his own capacious leathern arm-chair, and pressed the brandy which he had refused upon him.
"I got this brandy from a man down Arcachon way in return for a kindness that I did him; for, without boasting, I may say that I have done kindnesses for many people in my time." He raised his glass to his lips as he spoke.

"It is good, is it not ?" said he.

"You can't get stuff with an aroma like that hereabouts." The extreme deference of the man, coupled with the excellence of the spirit, opened Norbert's heart in a very short space of time.