Answered in example sentence
'Yes, in the eyes of certain people,' Julien answered her with an expression of the most ill-concealed scorn, his eye still ablaze from his conversation with Altamira, 'but unfortunately for people of birth, he was a lawyer at Mery-sur-Seine; that is to say, Mademoiselle,' he went on with an air of sarcasm, 'that he began life like several of the Peers whom I see here this evening.