The Count of Monte Cristo

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between Salon and Lambesc; and as a custom existed among the inhabitants
of that part of France where Caderousse lived of styling every person by
some particular and distinctive appellation, her husband had bestowed on
her the name of La Carconte in place of her sweet and euphonious name of
Madeleine, which, in all probability, his rude gutteral language would
not have enabled him to pronounce. Still, let it not be supposed
that amid this affected resignation to the will of Providence, the
unfortunate inn-keeper did not writhe under the double misery of seeing
the hateful canal carry off his customers and his profits, and the daily
infliction of his peevish partner's murmurs and lamentations.

Like other dwellers in the south, he was a man of sober habits and
moderate desires, but fond of external show, vain, and addicted to
display. During the days of his prosperity, not a festivity took place
without himself and wife being among the spectators. He dressed in the
picturesque costume worn upon grand occasions by the inhabitants of the
south of France, bearing equal resemblance to the style adopted both by