understood at last what it was to invest money in the public

securities,--a system for which provincials have always shown a marked

repugnance,--and at the end of five years he found himself master of a

capital of six millions, which increased without much effort of his

own, and which, joined to the value and proceeds of his territorial

possessions, gave him a fortune that was absolutely colossal. The six

francs bestowed on Nanon were perhaps the reward of some great service

which the poor servant had rendered to her master unawares.