Volume 3/Book 2/Chapter 7

Les Misérables, Volume 3: Marius, Book Second: The Great Bourgeois, Chapter 7: Rule: Receive No One except in the Evening
(Tome 3: Marius, Livre deuxième: Le grand bourgeois, Chapitre 7: Règle: Ne recevoir personne que le soir)

French text

Tel était M. Luc-Esprit Gillenormand, lequel n'avait point perdu ses cheveux, plutôt gris que blancs, et était toujours coiffé en oreilles de chien. En somme, et avec tout cela, vénérable.

Il tenait du dix-huitième siècle: frivole et grand.

Dans les premières années de la Restauration, M. Gillenormand, qui était encore jeune,—il n'avait que soixante-quatorze ans en 1814,—avait habité le faubourg Saint-Germain, rue Servandoni, près Saint-Sulpice. Il ne s'était retiré au Marais qu'en sortant du monde, bien après ses quatre-vingts ans sonnés.

Et en sortant du monde, il s'était muré dans ses habitudes. La principale, et où il était invariable, c'était de tenir sa porte absolument fermée le jour, et de ne jamais recevoir qui que ce soit, pour quelque affaire que ce fût, que le soir. Il dînait à cinq heures, puis sa porte était ouverte. C'était la mode de son siècle, et il n'en voulait point démordre.—Le jour est canaille, disait-il, et ne mérite qu'un volet fermé. Les gens comme il faut allument leur esprit quand le zénith allume ses étoiles.—Et il se barricadait pour tout le monde, fût-ce pour le roi. Vieille élégance de son temps.

English text

Such was M. Luc-Esprit Gillenormand, who had not lost his hair,—which was gray rather than white,—and which was always dressed in "dog's ears." To sum up, he was venerable in spite of all this.

He had something of the eighteenth century about him; frivolous and great.

In 1814 and during the early years of the Restoration, M. Gillenormand, who was still young,—he was only seventy-four,—lived in the Faubourg Saint Germain, Rue Servandoni, near Saint-Sulpice. He had only retired to the Marais when he quitted society, long after attaining the age of eighty.

And, on abandoning society, he had immured himself in his habits. The principal one, and that which was invariable, was to keep his door absolutely closed during the day, and never to receive any one whatever except in the evening. He dined at five o'clock, and after that his door was open. That had been the fashion of his century, and he would not swerve from it. "The day is vulgar," said he, "and deserves only a closed shutter. Fashionable people only light up their minds when the zenith lights up its stars." And he barricaded himself against every one, even had it been the king himself. This was the antiquated elegance of his day.