tory of France in Le Ragois, and never reading any book but what
their mother would sanction, their ideas had not acquired much scope.
They knew perfectly how to keep house; they were familiar with the
prices of things; they understood the difficulty of amassing money; they
were economical, and had a great respect for the qualities that make a
man of business. Although their father was rich, they were as skilled
in darning as in embroidery; their mother often talked of having them
taught to cook, so that they might know how to order a dinner and scold
a cook with due knowledge. They knew nothing of the pleasures of the
world; and, seeing how their parents spent their exemplary lives, they
very rarely suffered their eyes to wander beyond the walls of their
hereditary home, which to their mother was the whole universe. The
meetings to which family anniversaries gave rise filled in the future of
earthly joy to them.

When the great drawing-room on the second floor was to be prepared to
receive company--Madame Roguin, a Demoiselle Chevrel, fifteen months
younger than her cousin, and bedecked with diamonds; young Rabourdin,
employed in the Finance Office; Monsieur Cesar Birotteau, the rich
perfumer, and his wife, known as Madame Cesar; Monsieur Camusot, the
richest silk mercer in the Rue des Bourdonnais, with his father-in-law,
Monsieur Cardot, two or three old bankers, and some immaculate
ladies--the arrangements, made necessary by the way in which everything
was packed away--the plate, the Dresden china, the candlesticks, and the
glass--made a variety in the monotonous lives of the three women, who
came and went and exerted themselves as nuns would to receive their
bishop. Then, in the evening, when all three were tired out with having
wiped, rubbed, unpacked, and arranged all the gauds of the festival, as
the girls helped their mother to undress, Madame Guillaume would say to
them, "Children, we have done nothing today."

When, on very great occasions, "the portress nun" allowed dancing,
restricting the games of boston, whist, and backgammon within the limits
of her bedroom, such a concession was accounted as the most unhoped
felicity, and made them happier than going to the great balls, to two
or three of which Guillaume would take the girls at the time of the
Carnival.

And once a year the worthy draper gave an entertainment, when he spared
no expense. However rich and fashionable the persons invited might be,
they w