carrying iron or lead on her back, and leading the miserable horse and
cart full of crockery with which her husband plied a disguised usury.
Dark-skinned, high-colored, enjoying robust health, and showing when
she laughed a brilliant set of teeth, white, long, and broad as
almonds, Madame Sauviat had the hips and bosom of a woman made by
Nature expressly for maternity.

If this strong girl were not earlier married, the fault must be
attributed to the Harpagon "no dowry" her father practised, though he
never read Moliere. Sauviat was not deterred by the lack of dowry;
besides, a man of fifty can't make difficulties, not to speak of the
fact that such a wife would save him the cost of a servant. He added
nothing to the furniture of his bedroom where, from the day of his
wedding to the day he left the house, twenty years later, there was
never anything but a single four-post bed, with valance and curtains
of green serge, a chest, a bureau, four chairs, a table, and a
looking-glass, all collected from different localities. The chest
contained in its upper section pewter plates, dishes, etc., each
article dissimilar from the rest. The kitchen can be imagined from the
bedroom.

Neither husband nor wife knew how to read,--a slight defect of
education which did not prevent them from ciphering admirably and
doing a most flourishing business. Sauviat never bought any article
without the certainty of being able to sell it for one hundred per
cent profit. To relieve himself of the necessity of keeping books and
accounts, he bought and sold for cash only. He had, moreover, such a
perfect memory that the cost of any article, were it only a farthing,
remained in his mind year after year, together with its accrued
interest.