The Lost Child

On the day before Christmas, a wealthy father's carefully measured routine begins to unravel. Jean-Baptiste Godefroy has business meetings to attend, profits to consider and just a quarter of an hour set aside for his young son, Raoul. François Coppée opens this short story in Paris, contrasting a bright winter morning with the banker's irritability and the financial calculations of his associates. The narrator's amused observations make the household's wealth and its master's self-importance especially clear.

When Godefroy comes home, he learns that Raoul has been lost during an outing with his nursery governess. He rushes to seek police assistance, suddenly consumed by a fear that his money and honors cannot ease. This Christmas story connects a father's distress with the distance between rich and poor. Its shifting tone, from social comedy to urgent anxiety, gives readers a compact portrait of ambition interrupted by family feeling.