n bars. No one, not even
Madame Grandet, had permission to enter it. The old man chose to be
alone, like an alchemist in his laboratory. There, no doubt, some
hiding-place had been ingeniously constructed; there the title-deeds of
property were stored; there hung the scales on which to weigh the louis;
there were devised, by night and secretly, the estimates, the profits,
the receipts, so that business men, finding Grandet prepared at all
points, imagined that he got his cue from fairies or demons; there, no
doubt, while Nanon's loud snoring shook the rafters, while the wolf-dog
watched and yawned in the courtyard, while Madame and Mademoiselle
Grandet were quietly sleeping, came the old cooper to cuddle, to con
over, to caress and clutch and clasp his gold. The walls were thick, the
screens sure. He alone had the key of this laboratory, where--so people
declared--he studied the maps on which his fruit-trees were marked, and
calculated his profits to a vine, and almost to a twig.

The door of Eugenie's chamber was opposite to the walled-up entrance to
this room. At the other end of the landing were the appartements of
the married pair, which occupied the whole front of the house. Madame
Grandet had a room next to that of Eugenie, which was entered through a
glass door. The master's chamber was separated from that of his wife by
a partition, and from the mysterious strong-room by a thick wall. Pere
Grandet lodged his nephew on the second floor, in the high mansarde
attic which was above his own bedroom, so that he might hear him if the
young man took it into his head to go and come. When Eugenie and her
mother reached the middle of the landing they kissed each other for
good-night; then with a few words of adieu to Charles, cold upon the
lips, but certainly very warm in the heart of the young girl, they
withdrew into their own chambers.

"Here you are in your room, my nephew," said Pere Grandet as he opened
the door. "If you need to go out, call Nanon; without her, beware! the
dog would eat you up without a word. Sleep well. Good-night. Ha! why,
they have made you a fire!" he cried.

At this moment Nanon appeared with the warming pan.

"Here's something more!" said Monsieur Grandet. "Do you take my nephew
for a lying-in woman? Carry off your brazier, Nanon!"

"But, monsieur, the sheets are damp, and this gentleman is as delicate
as a woman."

"Well, go on, as you've taken it into your head," said Grandet, pushing