Amid this retired life, Constance, haunted as she was by her fixed idea,
had no other occupation than that of watching the factory, and
ascertaining what went on there day by day. Morange, whom she had made
her confidant, gave her information in all simplicity almost every
evening, when he came to speak to her for a moment after leaving his
office. She learnt everything from his lips--the successive sales of the
shares into which the property had been divided, their gradual
acquisition by Denis, and the fact that Beauchene and herself were
henceforth living on the new master's liberality. Moreover, she so
organized her system of espionage as to make the old accountant tell her
unwittingly all that he knew of the private life led by Denis, his wife
Marthe, and their children, Lucien, Paul, and Hortense all, indeed, that
was done and said in the modest little pavilion where the young people,
in spite of their increasing fortune, were still residing, evincing no
ambitious haste to occupy the large house on the quay. They did not even
seem to notice what scanty accommodation they had in that pavilion, while
she alone dwelt in the gloomy mansion, which was so spacious that she
seemed quite lost in it.
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