housekeeping, and showed what a grand administrator he was by
practically proving that his house could be splendidly kept for three
thousand francs a year. Then he put his wife on an allowance of a
hundred francs a month, and boasted of his liberality in so doing. The
office-boy, who liked flowers, was made to take care of the garden on
Sundays. Having dismissed the gardener, Graslin used the greenhouse to
store articles conveyed to him as security for loans. He let the birds
in the aviary die for want of care, to avoid the cost of their food
and attendance. And he even took advantage of a winter when there was
no ice, to give up his icehouse and save the expense of filling it.

By 1828 there was not a single article of luxury in the house which he
had not in some way got rid of. Parsimony reigned unchecked in the
hotel Graslin. The master's face, greatly improved during the three
years spent with his wife (who induced him to follow his physician's
advice), now became redder, more fiery, more blotched than before.
Business had taken such proportions that it was necessary to promote
the boy-of-all-work to the position of cashier, and to find some stout
Auvergnat for the rougher service of the hotel Graslin.

Thus, four years after her marriage, this very rich woman could not
dispose of a single penny by her own will. The avarice of her husband
succeeded the avarice of her parents. Madame Graslin had never
understood the necessity of money until the time came when her
benevolence was checked.

By the beginning of the year 1828 Veronique had entirely recovered the
blooming health which had given such beauty to the innocent young girl
sitting at her window in the old house in the rue de la Cite; but by
this time she had acquired a fine literary education, and was fully