was saying to her shop girl: "Just look at that creature staring at us
over yonder, Augustine! She's getting quite deformed by the life she
leads. Do you see her earrings? She's wearing those big drops of hers,
isn't she? It makes one feel ashamed to see a girl like that with
brilliants."

All complaisance, Augustine echoed her mistress's words.

When either of them was able to display a new ornament it was like
scoring a victory--the other one almost choked with spleen. Every day
they would scrutinise and count each other's customers, and manifest the
greatest annoyance if they thought that the "big thing over the way" was
doing the better business. Then they spied out what each had for lunch.
Each knew what the other ate, and even watched to see how she digested
it. In the afternoon, while the one sat amidst her cooked meats and the
other amidst her fish, they posed and gave themselves airs, as though
they were queens of beauty. It was then that the victory of the day was
decided. The beautiful Norman embroidered, selecting the most delicate
and difficult work, and this aroused Lisa's exasperation.

"Ah!" she said, speaking of her rival, "she had far better mend her
boy's stockings. He's running about quite barefooted. Just look at that
fine lady, with her red hands stinking of fish!"

For her part, Lisa usually knitted.

"She's still at that same sock," La Normande would say, as she watched
her. "She eats so much that she goes to sleep over her work. I pity her
poor husband if he's waiting for those socks to keep his feet warm!"