e answered.

"Poor child!" said Charles, making a step into her room and leaning
his back against the wall, "if that were so, he would never have let my
father die; he would not let you live in this poor way; he would live
otherwise himself."

"But he owns Froidfond."

"What is Froidfond worth?"

"I don't know; but he has Noyers."

"Nothing but a poor farm!"

"He has vineyards and fields."

"Mere nothing," said Charles disdainfully. "If your father had only
twenty-four thousand francs a year do you suppose you would live in this
cold, barren room?" he added, making a step in advance. "Ah! there you
will keep my treasures," he said, glancing at the old cabinet, as if to
hide his thoughts.

"Go and sleep," she said, hindering his entrance into the disordered
room.

Charles stepped back, and they bid each other good-night with a mutual
smile.

Both fell asleep in the same dream; and from that moment the youth began
to wear roses with his mourning. The next day, before breakfast, Madame
Grandet found her daughter in the garden in company with Charles.
The young man was still sad, as became a poor fellow who, plunged in
misfortune, measures the depths of the abyss into which he has fallen,
and sees the terrible burden of his whole future life.

"My father will not be home till dinner-time," said Eugenie, perceiving
the anxious look on her mother's face.

It was easy to trace in the face and manners of the young girl and in
the singular sweetness of her voice a unison of thought between her and
her cousin. Their souls had espoused each other, perhaps before they
even felt the force of the feelings which bound them together. Charles
spent the morning in the hall, and his sadness was respected. Each of
the three women had occupations of her own. Grandet had left all his
affairs unattended to, and a number of persons came on business,--the
plumber, the mason, the slater, the carpenter, the diggers, the
dressers, the farmers; some to drive a bargain about repairs, others to
pay their rent or to be paid themselves for services. Madame Grandet and
Eugenie were obliged to go and come and listen to the interminable talk
of all these workmen and country folk. Nanon put away in her kitchen
the produce which they brought as tribute. She always waited for her
master's orders before she knew what portion was to be used in the house
and what was to be sold in the market. It was the goodman's custom, like
that of a great ma