unlooked-for happiness with her, he began to dote upon her; and longed
to adorn his idol. Then Aquilina's toilette was so comically out of
keeping with her poor abode, that for both their sakes it was clearly
incumbent on him to move. The change swallowed up almost all
Castanier's savings, for he furnished his domestic paradise with all
the prodigality that is lavished on a kept mistress. A pretty woman
must have everything pretty about her; the unity of charm in the woman
and her surroundings singles her out from among her sex. This
sentiment of homogeneity indeed, though it has frequently escaped the
attention of observers, is instinctive in human nature; and the same
prompting leads elderly spinsters to surround themselves with dreary
relics of the past. But the lovely Piedmontese must have the newest
and latest fashions, and all that was daintiest and prettiest in
stuffs for hangings, in silks or jewelry, in fine china and other
brittle and fragile wares. She asked for nothing; but when she was
called upon to make a choice, when Castanier asked her, "Which do you
like?" she would answer, "Why, this is the nicest!" Love never counts
the cost, and Castanier therefore always took the "nicest."

When once the standard had been set up, there was nothing for it but
everything in the household must be in conformity, from the linen,
plate, and crystal through a thousand and one items of expenditure
down to the pots and pans in the kitchen. Castanier had meant to "do
things simply," as the saying goes, but he gradually found himself
more and more in debt. One expense entailed another. The clock called
for candle sconces. Fires must be lighted in the ornamental grates,
but the curtains and hangings were too fresh and delicate to be soiled
by smuts, so they must be replaced by patent and elaborate fireplaces,
warranted to give out no smoke, recent inventions of the people who
are so clever at drawing up a prospectus. Then Aquilina found it so