Indeed, she had become so well acquainted with the various phases of Guillaume's delicate operations, and their terrible possibilities, that she would occasionally give him a helping hand.
That morning, as she sat there mending some house linen,--her eyesight still being so keen that in spite of her seventy years she wore no spectacles,--she now and again glanced at Guillaume as if to make sure that he forgot nothing.

Then feeling satisfied, she would once more bend over her work.

She remained very strong and active.

Her hair was only just turning white, and she had kept all her teeth, while her face still looked refined, though it was slowly withering with age and had acquired an expression of some severity.

As a rule she was a woman of few words; her life was one of activity and good management.