Madame Raquin had formerly been a mercer at Vernon.

For close upon five-and-twenty years, she had kept a small shop in that town.

A few years after the death of her husband, becoming subject to fits of faintness, she sold her business.

Her savings added to the price of this sale placed a capital of 40,000 francs in her hand which she invested so that it brought her in an income of 2,000 francs a year.

This sum amply sufficed for her requirements.