Alencon saw with alarm the possibility of luxury being thus introduced into the town.

Every one feared a rise in the price of rents and provisions, and a coming invasion of Parisian furniture.

Some persons were sufficiently pricked by curiosity to give ten sous to Jacquelin to allow them a close inspection of the vehicle which threatened to upset the whole economy of the region.

A pair of horses, bought in Normandie, were also most alarming.
"If we bought our own horses," said the Ronceret circle, "we couldn't sell them to those who come to buy." Stupid as it was, this reasoning seemed sound; for surely such a course would prevent the region from grasping the money of foreigners.

In the eyes of the provinces wealth consisted less in the rapid turning over of money than in sterile accumulation.