Monsieur de Grandville, to whom Veronique's grandeur of soul and noble
qualities were well known, made her an offer of marriage; but, to the
surprise of all Limoges, Madame Graslin declined, under pretext that
the Church discouraged second marriages. Grossetete, a man of strong
common-sense and sure grasp of a situation, advised Veronique to
invest her property and what remained of Monsieur Graslin's in the
Funds; and he made the investment himself in one of the government
securities which offered special advantages at that time, namely, the
Three-per-cents, which were then quoted at fifty. The child Francis
received, therefore, six thousand francs a year, and his mother forty
thousand. Veronique's fortune was still the largest in the department.

When these affairs were all settled, Madame Graslin announced her
intention of leaving Limoges and taking up her residence at Montegnac,
to be near Monsieur Bonnet. She sent for the rector to consult about
the enterprise he was so anxious to carry on at Montegnac, in which
she desired to take part. But he endeavored unselfishly to dissuade
her, telling her that her place was in the world and in society.

"I was born of the people and I wish to return to the people," she
replied. On which the rector, full of love for his village, said no
more against Madame Graslin's apparent vocation; and the less because
she had actually put it out of her power to continue in Limoges,
having sold the hotel Graslin to Grossetete, who, to cover a sum that
was due to him, took it at its proper valuation.

The day of her departure, toward the end of August, 1831, Madame
Graslin's numerous friends accompanied her some distance out of the
town. A few went as far as the first relay. Veronique was in an open