The genius
of the provinces preserved everything; nothing was new or old, neither
young nor decrepit. A cold precision made itself felt throughout.

Tourists in Normandy, Brittany, Maine, and Anjou must all have seen in
the capitals of those provinces many houses which resemble more or less
that of the Cormons; for it is, in its way, an archetype of the burgher
houses in that region of France, and it deserves a place in this history
because it serves to explain manners and customs, and represents ideas.
Who does not already feel that life must have been calm and monotonously
regular in this old edifice? It contained a library; but that was placed
below the level of the river. The books were well bound and shelved,
and the dust, far from injuring them, only made them valuable. They were
preserved with the care given in these provinces deprived of vineyards
to other native products, desirable for their antique perfume, and
issued by the presses of Bourgogne, Touraine, Gascogne, and the South.
The cost of transportation was too great to allow any but the best
products to be imported.

The basis of Mademoiselle Cormon's society consisted of about one
hundred and fifty persons; some went at times to the country; others
were occasionally ill; a few travelled about the department on business;
but certain of the faithful came every night (unless invited elsewhere),
and so did certain others compelled by duties or by habit to live
permanently in the town. All the personages were of ripe age; few
among them had ever travelled; nearly all had spent their lives in the
provinces, and some had taken part in the chouannerie. The latter were
beginning to speak fearlessly of that war, now that rewards were being
showered on the defenders of the good cause. Monsieur de Valois, one of
the movers in the last uprising (during which the Marquis de Montauran,
betrayed by his mistress, perished in spite of the devotion of
Marche-a-Terre, now tranquilly raising cattle for the market near
Mayenne),--Monsieur de Valois had, during the last six months, given the
key to several choice stratagems practised upon an old republican named
Hulot, the commander of a demi-brigade stationed at Alencon from 1798 to
1800, who had left many memories in the place. [See "The Chouans."]

The women of this society took little pains with their dress, except on
Wednesdays, when Mademoiselle Cormon gave a dinner, on which occasion
the guests invited on the previous