t belief in himself
which the habit of succeeding in all enterprises never fails to give to
a man.

Thus, though his manners were unctuous and soft outwardly, Monsieur
Grandet's nature was of iron. His dress never varied; and those who saw
him to-day saw him such as he had been since 1791. His stout shoes
were tied with leathern thongs; he wore, in all weathers, thick woollen
stockings, short breeches of coarse maroon cloth with silver buckles,
a velvet waistcoat, in alternate stripes of yellow and puce, buttoned
squarely, a large maroon coat with wide flaps, a black cravat, and
a quaker's hat. His gloves, thick as those of a gendarme, lasted him
twenty months; to preserve them, he always laid them methodically on
the brim of his hat in one particular spot. Saumur knew nothing further
about this personage.

Only six individuals had a right of entrance to Monsieur Grandet's
house. The most important of the first three was a nephew of Monsieur
Cruchot. Since his appointment as president of the Civil courts of
Saumur this young man had added the name of Bonfons to that of Cruchot.
He now signed himself C. de Bonfons. Any litigant so ill-advised as to
call him Monsieur Cruchot would soon be made to feel his folly in court.
The magistrate protected those who called him Monsieur le president, but
he favored with gracious smiles those who addressed him as Monsieur de
Bonfons. Monsieur le president was thirty-three years old, and possessed
the estate of Bonfons (Boni Fontis), worth seven thousand francs a year;
he expected to inherit the property of his uncle the notary and that
of another uncle, the Abbe Cruchot, a dignitary of the chapter of
Saint-Martin de Tours, both of whom were thought to be very rich. These
three Cruchots, backed by a goodly number of cousins, and allied
to twenty families in the town, formed a party, like the Medici in
Florence; like the Medici, the Cruchots had their Pazzi.

Madame des Grassins, mother of a son twenty-three years of age, came
assiduously to play cards with Madame Grandet, hoping to marry her dear
Adolphe to Mademoiselle Eugenie. Monsieur des Grassins, the banker,
vigorously promoted the schemes of his wife by means of secret services
constantly rendered to the old miser, and always arrived in time
upon the field of battle. The three des Grassins likewise had their
adherents, their cousins, their faithful allies. On the Cruchot side the
abbe, the Talleyrand of the family, well backed