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In Berry and in Anjou, when a
young girl marries, her family, or that of the husband, must give her
a purse, in which they place, according to their means, twelve pieces,
or twelve dozen pieces, or twelve hundred pieces of gold. The poorest
shepherd-girl never marries without her dozen, be it only a dozen
coppers. They still tell in Issoudun of a certain "dozen" presented to
a rich heiress, which contained a hundred and forty-four _portugaises
d'or_. Pope Clement VII., uncle of Catherine de' Medici, gave her when
he married her to Henri II. a dozen antique gold medals of priceless
value.
During dinner the father, delighted to see his Eugenie looking well in
a new gown, exclaimed: "As it is Eugenie's birthday let us have a
fire; it will be a good omen."
"Mademoiselle will be married this year, that's certain," said la
Grande Nanon, carrying away the remains of the goose,--the pheasant of
tradesmen.
"I don't see any one suitable for her in Saumur," said Madame Grandet,
glancing at her husband with a timid look which, considering her
years, revealed the conjugal slavery under which the poor woman
languished.
Grandet looked at his daughter and exclaimed gaily,--
"She is twenty-three years old to-day, the child; we must soon begin
to think of it."
Eugenie and her mother silently exchanged a glance of intelligence.
Madame Grandet was a dry, thin woman, as yellow as a quince, awkward,
slow, one of those women who are born to be down-trodden. She had big
bones, a big nose, a big forehead, big eyes, and presented at first
sight a vague resemblance to those mealy fruits that have neither
savor nor succulence. Her teeth were black and few in number, her
mouth was wrinkled, her chin long and pointed. She was an excellent
woman, a true la Bertelliere. L'abbe Cruchot found occasional
opportunity to tell her that she had not done ill; and she believed
him. Angelic sweetness, the resignation of an insect tortured by
children, a rare piety, a good heart, an unalterable equanimity of
soul, made her universally pitied and respected. Her husband never
gave her more than six francs at a time for her personal expenses.
Ridiculous as it may seem, this woman, who by her own fortune and her
various inheritances brought Pere Grandet more than three hundred
thousand francs, had always felt so profoundly humiliated by her
dependence and the slavery in which she lived, against which the
gentleness of her spirit prevented her from revolting, that she had
never asked for one penny or made a single remark on the deeds which
Maitre Cruchot brought for her signature. This foolish secret pride,
this nobility of soul perpetually misunderstood and wounded by
Grandet, ruled the whole conduct of the wife.
Madame Grandet was attired habitually in a gown of greenish levantine
silk, endeavoring to make it last nearly a year; with it she wore a
large kerchief of white cotton cloth, a bonnet made of plaited straws
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