In addition to all these advantages, only a hedge separated this paradise from another "chalet with garden" of precisely the same description, occupied by Sigismond Planus the cashier, and his sister.

To Madame Chebe that was a most precious circumstance.

When the good woman was bored, she would take a stock of knitting and darning and go and sit in the old maid's arbor, dazzling her with the tale of her past splendors.

Unluckily, her husband had not the same source of distraction.
However, everything went well at first.

It was midsummer, and M.Chebe, always in his shirt-sleeves, was busily employed in getting settled.
Each nail to be driven in the house was the subject of leisurely reflections, of endless discussions.