As soon as the marriage was settled, she made her arrangements, worked extra time in the evenings, and managed to put thirty francs on one side.

She had a great longing for a little silk mantle marked thirteen francs in the Rue du Faubourg Poissonniere.

She treated herself to it, and then bought for ten francs of the husband of a washerwoman who had died in Madame Fauconnier's house a blue woolen dress, which she altered to fit herself.

With the seven francs remaining she procured a pair of cotton gloves, a rose for her cap, and some shoes for Claude, her eldest boy.

Fortunately the youngsters' blouses were passable.