asks for anything; she is as gentle as a lamb."

Veronique was, as a matter of fact, absolutely ignorant of the value
of things. She had never wanted for anything; she never saw a piece of
gold till the day of her marriage; she had no money of her own; her
mother bought and gave her everything she needed and wished for; so
that even when she wanted to give alms to a beggar, the girl felt in
her mother's pocket for the coin.

"If that's so," remarked the hatmaker, "she can't cost you much."

"So you think, do you?" replied Sauviat. "You wouldn't get off under
forty crowns a year, I can tell you that. Why, her room, she has at
least a hundred crowns' worth of furniture in it! But when a man has
but one child, he doesn't mind. The little we own will all go to her."

"The little! Why, you must be rich, pere Sauviat! It is pretty nigh
forty years that you have been doing a business in which there are no
losses."

"Ha! I sha'n't go to the poorhouse for want of a thousand francs or
so!" replied the old-iron dealer.

From the day when Veronique lost the soft beauty which made her
girlish face the admiration of all who saw it, Pere Sauviat redoubled
in activity. His business became so prosperous that he now went to
Paris several times a year. Every one felt that he wanted to
compensate his daughter by force of money for what he called her "loss
of profit." When Veronique was fifteen years old a change was made in
the internal manners and customs of the household. The father and