frequenting fairs and roaming the country, the Auvergnat
settled at Limoges, where he married, in 1797, the daughter of a
coppersmith, a widower, named Champagnac. When his father-in-law died he
bought the house in which he had been carrying on his trade of old-iron
dealer, after ceasing to roam the country as a peddler. Sauviat was
fifty years of age when he married old Champagnac's daughter, who was
herself not less than thirty. Neither handsome nor pretty, she was
nevertheless born in Auvergne, and the _patois_ seemed to be the mutual
attraction; also she had the sturdy frame which enables women to bear
hard work. In the first three years of their married life Sauviat
continued to do some peddling, and his wife accompanied him, 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 a