It is necessary to begin by stating this financial position, not only to prevent objections but to rid the drama of difficulties.
Brigitte began, from the first, by allowing her brother five hundred francs a month, and by sailing the household boat at the rate of five thousand francs a year.

She granted to her sister-in-law fifty francs a month, explaining to her carefully that she herself was satisfied with forty.

To strengthen her despotism by the power of money, Brigitte laid by the surplus of her own funds.

She made, so it was said in business offices, usurious loans by means of her brother, who appeared as a money-lender.

If, between the years 1813 and 1830, Brigitte had capitalized sixty thousand francs, that sum can be explained by the rise in the Funds, and there is no need to have recourse to accusations more or less well founded, which have nothing to do with our present history.
From the first days of the marriage, Brigitte subdued the unfortunate Madame Thuillier with a touch of the spur and a jerk of the bit, both of which she made her feel severely.