His dress never varied; and those who
saw him to-day saw him such as he had been since 1791. His stout shoes
were tied with leathern thongs; he wore, in all weathers, thick
woollen stockings, short breeches of coarse maroon cloth with silver
buckles, a velvet waistcoat, in alternate stripes of yellow and puce,
buttoned squarely, a large maroon coat with wide flaps, a black
cravat, and a quaker's hat. His gloves, thick as those of a gendarme,
lasted him twenty months; to preserve them, he always laid them
methodically on the brim of his hat in one particular spot. Saumur
knew nothing further about this personage.
Only six individuals had a right of entrance to Monsieur Grandet's
house. The most important of the first three was a nephew of Monsieur
Cruchot. Since his appointment as president of the Civil courts of
Saumur this young man had added the name of Bonfons to that of
Cruchot. He now signed himself C. de Bonfons. Any litigant so
ill-advised as to call him Monsieur Cruchot would soon be made to feel
his folly in court. The magistrate protected those who called him
Monsieur le president, but he favored with gracious smiles those who
addressed him as Monsieur de Bonfons. Monsieur le president was
thirty-three years old, and possessed the estate of Bonfons (Boni
Fontis), worth seven thousand francs a year; he expected to inherit the
property of his uncle the notary and that of another uncle, the Abbe
Cruchot, a dignitary of the chapter of Saint-Martin de Tours, both of
whom were thought to be very rich.
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