Her blond hair, bordering on chestnut, showed, in spite of her husband's catastrophe, not a tinge of gray.

She loved good cheer, and liked to concoct nice little made dishes; yet, fond as she was of eating, she also adored the theatre and cherished a vice which she wrapped in impenetrable mystery--she bought into lotteries.

Can that be the abyss of which mythology warns us under the fable of the Danaides and their cask?
Madame Descoings, like other women who are lucky enough to keep young for many years, spend rather too much upon her dress; but aside from these trifling defects she was the pleasantest of women to live with.
Of every one's opinion, never opposing anybody, her kindly and communicative gayety gave pleasure to all.

She had, moreover, a Parisian quality which charmed the retired clerks and elderly merchants of her circle,--she could take and give a jest.

If she did not marry a third time it was no doubt the fault of the times.