and fifty thousand francs. The old man retained an
income of eight thousand francs derived from the Funds, bought for him
originally for sixty thousand francs in assignats by his correspondent
Brezac, to whom, at the time of his imprisonment, he had confided that
sum, and who kept it for him safely. These sixty thousand francs in
assignats were the half of Sauviat's fortune at the time he came so
near being guillotined. Brezac was also, at the same time, the faithful
repository of the rest, namely, seven hundred louis d'or (an enormous
sum at that time in gold), with which old Sauviat began his business
once more as soon as he recovered his liberty. In thirty years each of
those louis d'or had been transformed into a bank-note for a thousand
francs, by means of the income from the Funds, of Madame Sauviat's
inheritance from her father, old Champagnac, and of the profits accruing
from the business and the accumulated interest thereon in the hands of
the Brezac firm. Brezac himself had a loyal and honest friendship for
Sauviat,--such as all Auvergnats are apt to feel for one another.

So, whenever Sauviat passed the front of the Graslin mansion he had said
to himself, "Veronique shall live in that fine palace." He knew very
well that no girl in all the department would have seven hundred and
fifty thousand francs as a marriage portion, besides the expectation
of two hundred and fifty thousand more. Graslin, his chosen son-in-law,
would therefore infallibly marry Veronique; and so, as we have seen, it
came about.

Every evening Veronique had her fresh bunch of flowers, which on the
morrow decked her little salon and was carefully concealed from the
neighbors. She admired the beautiful jewels, the pearls and diamonds,
the bracelets, the rubies, gifts which assuredly gratify all the
daughters of Eve. She thought herself less plain when she wore them. She
saw her mother happy in the marriage, and she had no other point of view
from which to make comparisons. She was, moreover, totally ignorant of
the duties or the purpose of marriage. She heard the solemn voice of the
vicar of Saint-Etienne praising Graslin to her as a man of honor,
with whom she would lead an honorable life. Thus it was that Veronique
consented to receive Monsieur Graslin as her future husband.

When it happens that in a life so withdrawn from the world, so solitary
as that of Veronique, a single person enters it every day, that person
cannot long remain i