A cold precision made itself felt throughout.
Tourists in Normandy, Brittany, Maine, and Anjou must all have seen in the capitals of those provinces many houses which resemble more or less that of the Cormons; for it is, in its way, an archetype of the burgher houses in that region of France, and it deserves a place in this history because it serves to explain manners and customs, and represents ideas.
Who does not already feel that life must have been calm and monotonously regular in this old edifice?
It contained a library; but that was placed below the level of the river.

The books were well bound and shelved, and the dust, far from injuring them, only made them valuable.

They were preserved with the care given in these provinces deprived of vineyards to other native products, desirable for their antique perfume, and issued by the presses of Bourgogne, Touraine, Gascogne, and the South.
The cost of transportation was too great to allow any but the best products to be imported.
The basis of Mademoiselle Cormon's society consisted of about one hundred and fifty persons; some went at times to the country; others were occasionally ill; a few travelled about the department on business; but certain of the faithful came every night (unless invited elsewhere), and so did certain others compelled by duties or by habit to live permanently in the town.

All the personages were of ripe age; few among them had ever travelled; nearly all had spent their lives in the provinces, and some had taken part in the chouannerie.

The latter were beginning to speak fearlessly of that war, now that rewards were being showered on the defenders of the good cause.