The single window which lighted it, on the side
of the court, was protected by a lattice of strong iron bars. No one,
not even Madame Grandet, had permission to enter it. The old man chose
to be alone, like an alchemist in his laboratory. There, no doubt,
some hiding-place had been ingeniously constructed; there the
title-deeds of property were stored; there hung the scales on which to
weigh the louis; there were devised, by night and secretly, the
estimates, the profits, the receipts, so that business men, finding
Grandet prepared at all points, imagined that he got his cue from
fairies or demons; there, no doubt, while Nanon's loud snoring shook
the rafters, while the wolf-dog watched and yawned in the courtyard,
while Madame and Mademoiselle Grandet were quietly sleeping, came the
old cooper to cuddle, to con over, to caress and clutch and clasp his
gold. The walls were thick, the screens sure. He alone had the key of
this laboratory, where--so people declared--he studied the maps on
which his fruit-trees were marked, and calculated his profits to a
vine, and almost to a twig.
The door of Eugenie's chamber was opposite to the walled-up entrance
to this room. At the other end of the landing were the appartements of
the married pair, which occupied the whole front of the house. Madame
Grandet had a room next to that of Eugenie, which was entered through
a glass door. The master's chamber was separated from that of his wife
by a partition, and from the mysterious strong-room by a thick wall.
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