"
And half an hour later Felicite was installed in her house.
At first she lived in a constant anxiety that was caused by "the
style of the household" and the memory of "Monsieur," that hovered
over everything. Paul and Virginia, the one aged seven, and the
other barely four, seemed made of some precious material; she
carried them pig-a-back, and was greatly mortified when Madame
Aubain forbade her to kiss them every other minute.
But in spite of all this, she was happy. The comfort of her new
surroundings had obliterated her sadness.
Every Thursday, friends of Madame Aubain dropped in for a game of
cards, and it was Felicite's duty to prepare the table and heat
the foot-warmers. They arrived at exactly eight o'clock and
departed before eleven.
Every Monday morning, the dealer in second-hand goods, who lived
under the alley-way, spread out his wares on the sidewalk. Then
the city would be filled with a buzzing of voices in which the
neighing of horses, the bleating of lambs, the grunting of pigs,
could be distinguished, mingled with the sharp sound of wheels on
the cobble-stones. About twelve o'clock, when the market was in
full swing, there appeared at the front door a tall, middle-aged
peasant, with a hooked nose and a cap on the back of his head; it
was Robelin, the farmer of Geffosses.
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