began his business once more as soon as he recovered his liberty. In
thirty years each of those louis d'or had been transformed into a
bank-note for a thousand francs, by means of the income from the
Funds, of Madame Sauviat's inheritance from her father, old
Champagnac, and of the profits accruing from the business and the
accumulated interest thereon in the hands of the Brezac firm. Brezac
himself had a loyal and honest friendship for Sauviat,--such as all
Auvergnats are apt to feel for one another.

So, whenever Sauviat passed the front of the Graslin mansion he had
said to himself, "Veronique shall live in that fine palace." He knew
very well that no girl in all the department would have seven hundred
and fifty thousand francs as a marriage portion, besides the
expectation of two hundred and fifty thousand more. Graslin, his
chosen son-in-law, would therefore infallibly marry Veronique; and so,
as we have seen, it came about.

Every evening Veronique had her fresh bunch of flowers, which on the
morrow decked her little salon and was carefully concealed from the
neighbors. She admired the beautiful jewels, the pearls and diamonds,
the bracelets, the rubies, gifts which assuredly gratify all the
daughters of Eve. She thought herself less plain when she wore them.
She saw her mother happy in the marriage, and she had no other point
of view from which to make comparisons. She was, moreover, totally
ignorant of the duties or the purpose of marriage. She heard the
solemn voice of the vicar of Saint-Etienne praising Graslin to her as
a man of honor, with whom she would lead an honorable life. Thus it
was that Veronique consented to receive Monsieur Graslin as her future
husband.