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[...] Madame Grandet's life moved swiftly towards its close. Every day she grew feebler: like most women of her age she had no resistance to illness, and her strength ebbed rapidly. She had as frail a hold on life as the leaves now hanging in their fleeting autumn glory on the trees, and like the l…

he delivered himself of a number of his favourite apophthegms

[...] they said good night with a smile.

They fell asleep, to dream the same dream; and from that night Charles realized that there were still roses to be gathered in the world, and began to wear his mourning more lightly.

[...] Annette, had compelled Charles to think seriously. [...] She made him both soft and materialistic, a twofold demoralization, but one wholly in accordance with the standards of good society, good manners, and good taste.

Like all misers he had a constant need to pit his wits against those of other men, to mulct them of their crowns by fair legal means