He had placed her beside him, and in his manner of speaking to her one could read affection and deference.

She was a very young woman, of about the same age as Sidonie, but of a more regular, quiet and placid type of beauty.

She talked little, being out of her element in that conglomerate assemblage; but she tried to appear affable.
On Risler's other side sat Madame Chebe, the bride's mother, radiant and gorgeous in her green satin gown, which gleamed like a shield.

Ever since the morning the good woman's every thought had been as brilliant as that robe of emblematic hue.

At every moment she said to herself: "My daughter is marrying Fromont Jeune and Risler Aine, of Rue des Vieilles Haudriettes!" For, in her mind, it was not Risler alone whom her daughter took for her husband, but the whole sign of the establishment, illustrious in the commercial annals of Paris; and whenever she mentally announced that glorious event, Madame Chebe sat more erect than ever, stretching the silk of the bodice until it almost cracked.
What a contrast to the attitude of Monsieur Chebe, who was seated at a short distance.