ements; sales of
wood which had been concealed from her, false receipts, etc.
Furthermore, he had an illegitimate child, and entertained a
friendship for "a person in Dozule."

These base actions affected her very much. In March, 1853, she
developed a pain in her chest; her tongue looked as if it were
coated with smoke, and the leeches they applied did not relieve
her oppression; and on the ninth evening she died, being just
seventy-two years old.

People thought that she was younger, because her hair, which she
wore in bands framing her pale face, was brown. Few friends
regretted her loss, for her manner was so haughty that she did not
attract them. Felicite mourned for her as servants seldom mourn
for their masters. The fact that Madame should die before herself
perplexed her mind and seemed contrary to the order of things, and
absolutely monstrous and inadmissible. Ten days later (the time to
journey from Besancon), the heirs arrived. Her daughter-in-law
ransacked the drawers, kept some of the furniture, and sold the
rest; then they went back to their own home.

Madame's armchair, foot-warmer, work-table, the eight chairs,
everything was gone! The places occupied by the pictures formed
yellow squares on the walls. They had taken the two little beds,
and the wardrobe had been emptied of Virginia's belongings!
Felicite went upstairs, overcome with grief.

The following day a sign was posted on the door; the chemist
screamed in her ear that the house was for sale.

For a moment she tottered, and had to sit down.

What hurt her most was to give up her room,--so nice for poor
Loulou! She looked at him in despair and implored the Holy Ghost,
and it was this way that she contracted the idolatrous habit of
saying her prayers kneeling in front of the bird. Sometimes the
sun fell through the window on his glass eye, and lighted a great
spark in it which sent Felicite into ecstasy.

Her mistress had left her an income of three hundred and eighty
francs. The garden supplied her with vegetables. As for clothes,
she had enough to last her till the end of her days, and she
economised on the light by going to bed at dusk.

She rarely went out, in order to avoid passing in front of the
second-hand dealer's shop where there was some of the old
furniture. Since her fainting spell, she dragged her leg, and as
her strength was failing rapidly, old Mother Simon, who had lost
her money in the grocery business, came every mornin