then sat down beside his wife, looking alternately at his friends, his
daughter, and the two candles. The Abbe Cruchot, a plump, puffy little
man, with a red wig plastered down and a face like an old female
gambler, said as he stretched out his feet, well shod in stout shoes
with silver buckles: "The des Grassins have not come?"

"Not yet," said Grandet.

"But are they coming?" asked the old notary, twisting his face, which
had as many holes as a collander, into a queer grimace.

"I think so," answered Madame Grandet.

"Are your vintages all finished?" said Monsieur de Bonfons to Grandet.

"Yes, all of them," said the old man, rising to walk up and down the
room, his chest swelling with pride as he said the words, "all of
them." Through the door of the passage which led to the kitchen he saw
la Grande Nanon sitting beside her fire with a candle and preparing to
spin there, so as not to intrude among the guests.

"Nanon," he said, going into the passage, "put out that fire and that
candle, and come and sit with us. Pardieu! the hall is big enough for
all."

"But monsieur, you are to have the great people."

"Are not you as good as they? They are descended from Adam, and so are
you."