finding a mistress already reigning in the home. She therefore sought
in a lower grade for persons to dazzle, and found, almost beside her,
a suitable match.

The oldest usher at the Bank, a man named Lemprun, had an only
daughter, called Celeste. Mademoiselle Celeste Lemprun would inherit
the fortune of her mother, the only daughter of a rich farmer. This
fortune consisted of some acres of land in the environs of Paris,
which the old father still worked; besides this, she would have the
property of Lemprun himself, a man who had left the firms of Thelusson
and of Keller to enter the service of the Bank of France. Lemprun, now
the head of that service, enjoyed the respect and consideration of the
governors and auditors.

The Bank council, on hearing of the probable marriage of Celeste to an
honorable employee at the ministry of finance, promised a wedding
present of six thousand francs. This gift, added to twelve thousand
given by Pere Lemprun, and twelve thousand more from the maternal
grandfather, Sieur Galard, market-gardener at Auteuil, brought up the
dowry to thirty thousand francs. Old Galard and Monsieur and Madame
Lemprun were delighted with the marriage. Lemprun himself knew
Mademoiselle Thuillier, and considered her one of the worthiest and
most conscientious women in Paris. Brigitte then, for the first time,
allowed her investments on the Grand-Livre to shine forth, assuring
Lemprun that she should never marry; consequently, neither he nor his
wife, persons devoted to the main chance, would ever allow themselves
to find fault with Brigitte. Above all, they were greatly struck by
the splendid prospects of the handsome Thuillier, and the marriage
took place, as the conventional saying is, to the general
satisfaction.