the third year he had so thoroughly accustomed her
to his avaricious methods that they had turned into the settled habits
of her own life, and he was able to leave the household keys in her
charge without anxiety, and to install her as mistress of the house.

* * * * *

Five years passed away without a single event to relieve the monotonous
existence of Eugenie and her father. The same actions were performed
daily with the automatic regularity of clockwork. The deep sadness of
Mademoiselle Grandet was known to every one; but if others surmised the
cause, she herself never uttered a word that justified the suspicions
which all Saumur entertained about the state of the rich heiress's
heart. Her only society was made up of the three Cruchots and a few of
their particular friends whom they had, little by little, introduced
into the Grandet household. They had taught her to play whist, and
they came every night for their game. During the year 1827 her father,
feeling the weight of his infirmities, was obliged to initiate her still
further into the secrets of his landed property, and told her that in
case of difficulty she was to have recourse to Maitre Cruchot, whose
integrity was well known to him.

Towards the end of this year the old man, then eighty-two, was seized by
paralysis, which made rapid progress. Dr. Bergerin gave him up. Eugenie,
feeling that she was about to be left alone in the world, came, as it
were, nearer to her father, and clasped more tightly this last living
link of affection. To her mind, as in that of all loving women, love was
the whole of life. Charles was not there, and she devoted all her care
and attention to the old father, whose faculties had begun to weaken,
though his avarice remained instinctively acute. The death of this man
offered no contrast to his life. In the morning he made them roll him
to a spot between the chimney of his chamber and the door of the secret
room, which was filled, no doubt, with gold. He asked for an explanation
of every noise he heard, even the slightest; to the great astonishment
of the notary, he even heard the watch-dog yawning in the court-yard. He
woke up from his apparent stupor at the day and hour when the rents
were due, or when accounts had to be settled with his vine-dressers, and
receipts given. At such times he worked his chair forward on its castors
until he faced the door of the inner room. He made his daughter open it,