e; M. Foureau, who sold wood, plaster, all sorts of
things; M. Marescot, the notary; the Abbe Jeufroy; and the widow Bordin,
who lived on her private income. The old woman added that, as for
herself, they called her Germaine, on account of the late Germain, her
husband. She used to go out as a charwoman, but would be very glad to
enter into the gentlemen's service. They accepted her offer, and then
went out to take a look at their farm, which was situated over a
thousand yards away.

When they entered the farmyard, Maitre Gouy, the farmer, was shouting at
a servant-boy, while his wife, on a stool, kept pressed between her legs
a turkey-hen, which she was stuffing with balls of flour.

The man had a low forehead, a thin nose, a downward look, and broad
shoulders. The woman was very fair-haired, with her cheek-bones speckled
with bran, and that air of simplicity which may be seen in the faces of
peasants on the windows of churches.

In the kitchen, bundles of hemp hung from the ceiling. Three old guns
stood in a row over the upper part of the chimney-piece. A dresser
loaded with flowered crockery occupied the space in the middle of the
wall; and the window-panes with their green bottle-glass threw over the
tin and copper utensils a sickly lustre.

The two Parisians wished to inspect the property, which they had seen
only once--and that a mere passing glance. Maitre Gouy and his wife
escorted them, and then began a litany of complaints.

All the appointments, from the carthouse to the boilery, stood in need
of repair. It would be necessary to erect an additional store for the
cheese, to put fresh iron on the railings, to raise the boundaries, to
deepen the ponds, and to plant anew a considerable number of apple trees
in the three enclosures.

Then they went to look at the lands under cultivation. Maitre Gouy ran
them down, saying that they ate up too much manure; cartage was
expensive; it was impossible to get rid of stones; and the bad grass
poisoned the meadows. This depreciation of his land lessened the
pleasure experienced by Bouvard in walking over it.

They came back by the hollow path under an avenue of beech trees. On
this side the house revealed its front and its courtyard. It was painted
white, with a coating of yellow. The carthouse and the storehouse, the
bakehouse and the woodshed, made, by means of a return, two lower wings.
The kitchen communicated with a little hall. Next came the vestibule, a
secon