Madame Saillard ventured to remonstrate with her uncle.
"It is just because he is an Auvergnat that I take only eighteen per cent," said Gigonnet, when she spoke of him.
Falleix, who had made a discovery at the age of twenty-eight, and communicated it to Saillard, seemed to carry his heart in his hand (an expression of old Saillard's), and also seemed likely to make a great fortune.

Elisabeth determined to husband him for her daughter and train him herself, having, as she calculated, seven years to do it in.

Martin Falleix felt and showed the deepest respect for Madame Baudoyer, whose superior qualities he was able to recognize.

If he were fated to make millions he would always belong to her family, where he had found a home.

The little Baudoyer girl was already trained to bring him his tea and to take his hat.
On the evening of which we write, Monsieur Saillard, returning from the ministry, found a game of boston in full blast; Elisabeth was advising Falleix how to play; Madame Saillard was knitting in the chimney-corner and overlooking the cards of the vicar; Monsieur Baudoyer, motionless as a mile-stone, was employing his mental capacity in calculating how the cards were placed, and sat opposite to Mitral, who had come up from Ile-d'Adam for the Christmas holidays.