A certain house in Saumur, larger and more sombre than most, and once the residence of nobility, belonged to M. Grandet.

This M. Grandet was a master cooper in 1789, a good man of business with a remarkable head for accounts.  He prospered in the Revolution, bought the confiscated Church lands at a low price, married the daughter of a wealthy timber merchant, was made mayor under the consulate, became Monsieur Grandet when the empire was established, and every year grew wealthier and more miserly.

In 1817 M. Grandet was 68, his wife 47, and their only child, Eugenie, was 21.

A careful, cunning, silent man was M. Grandet, who loved his gold and to get the better in a bargain beyond all else.  He cultivated 100 acres of vineyard, had thirteen little farms, an old abbey, and 127 acres of grazing land, and owned the house he lived in.  The town estimated old Grandet’s income to be five or six million francs, but only two people were in a position to guess with any chance of probability, and these were M. Cruchot the notary, and M. des Grassins the banker, and they disclosed no secrets.

Both M. Cruchot and M. des Grassins were men of considerable importance in Saumur, and enjoyed the right of entry to M. Grandet’s house—­a privilege extended to only a very few of their neighbours.

There was rivalry between these two families of the Cruchots and Des Grassins, rivalry for the hand of Grandet’s daughter, Eugenie.  Cruchot’s nephew was a rising lawyer, already, at the age of thirty-three, a president of the court of first instance, and Cruchot’s brother was an abbe of Tours.  The hopes of the Cruchots were centred on the successful marriage of the nephew (who called himself Cruchot de Bonfons, after an estate he had bought) with Grandet’s heiress.

Mme. des Grassins was equally hopeful and indefatigable on behalf of her son Adolphe.

The whole town knew of the struggle between these two families, and watched it with interest.  Would Mlle. Grandet marry M. Adolphe des Grassins or M. le President?  There were others who declared the old cooper was rich enough to marry his daughter to a peer in France.

With all his wealth and the fortune his wife brought him, M. Grandet lived as meanly and cheaply as he could.  His house was cold and dreary, and his table was supplied with poultry, eggs, butter and corn by his tenants.  M. Grandet never paid visits or invited people to dinner.

One servant, Nanon, a big, strong woman of five feet eight inches, did all the work of the house, the cooking and washing, the baking and cleaning, and watched over her master’s interests with an absolute fidelity.  The strength of Nanon appealed to M. Grandet when he was on the lookout for a housekeeper before his marriage, and the girl, out of work and wretched, had never lost her gratitude for having been taken into his service.  For twenty-eight years Nanon had worked early and late for the Grandets,