Explore "The Brotherhood of Consolation" by Honoré De Balzac on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Eight o'clock was striking from the convent of the Visitation, the clock of the quarter, when the inquisitive Godefroid tapped gently at his neighbor's door. Auguste opened it. As it happened to be a Saturday, the young lad had his evening to himself. Godefroid beheld him in a little sack-coat of black velvet, a blue silk cravat, and black trousers. But his surprise at the youth's appearance, so different from that of this outside life, ceased as soon as he had entered the invalid's chamber. He then understood the reason why both father and son were well dressed.
For a moment the contrast between the squalor of the other rooms, as he had seen them that morning, and the luxury of this chamber, was so great that Godefroid was dazzled, though habituated for years to the luxury and elegance procured by wealth.