These judicious transactions, agreed on between the doctor and Monsieur Bongrand, were carried out in perfect secrecy, thanks to the political troubles of the time.
When quiet was again restored the doctor bought the little house which adjoined his own and pulled it down so as to build a coach-house and stables on its side.

To employ a capital which would have given him a thousand francs a year on outbuildings seemed actual folly to the Minoret heirs.

This folly, if it were one, was the beginning of a new era in the doctor's existence, for he now (at a period when horses and carriages were almost given away) brought back from Paris three fine horses and a caleche.
When, in the early part of November, 1830, the old man came to church on a rainy day in the new carriage, and gave his hand to Ursula to help her out, all the inhabitants flocked to the square,--as much to see the caleche and question the coachman, as to criticize the goddaughter, to whose excessive pride and ambition Massin, Cremiere, the post master, and their wives attributed this extravagant folly of the old man.
"A caleche! Hey, Massin!" cried Goupil.

"Your inheritance will go at top speed now!" "You ought to be getting good wages, Cabirolle," said the post master to the son of one of his conductors, who stood by the horses; "for it is to be supposed an old man of eighty-four won't use up many horse-shoes.
What did those horses cost ?" "Four thousand francs.

The caleche, though second-hand, was two thousand; but it's a fine one, the wheels are patent." "Yes, it's a good carriage," said Cremiere; "and a man must be rich to buy that style of thing." "Ursula means to go at a good pace," said Goupil.