He had
imagined that she was buried in some sewer.
In a gay, placid way she proceeded to recount her happiness: "Oh! I am
very pleased," she said; "I had retired to Rougemont, my birth-place, and
I ended by there marrying a retired naval officer, who has a very
comfortable pension, not to speak of a little fortune which his first
wife left him. As he has two big sons, I ventured to recommend the
younger one to Monsieur Ambroise, who was kind enough to take him into
his counting-house. And so I have profited by my first journey to Paris
since then, to come and give Monsieur Ambroise my best thanks."
She did not say how she had managed to marry the retired naval officer;
how she had originally been a servant in his household, and how she had
hastened his first wife's death in order to marry him. All things
considered, however, she rendered him very happy, and even rid him of his
sons, who were in his way, thanks to the relations she had kept up in
Paris.
She continued smiling like a worthy woman, whose feelings softened at the
recollection of the past. "You can have no idea how pleased I felt when I
saw you pass just now, Monsieur Froment," she resumed.
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