The wife threw her work hastily upon the table, and proceeded to execute his commands with every mark of unwillingness. Her countenance had displeased me on the first moment of my examining it. Yet upon the whole her features were handsome unquestionably; but her skin was sallow, and her person thin and meagre; a louring gloom overspread her countenance; and it bore such visible marks of rancour and ill-will, as could not escape being noticed by the most inattentive observer. Her every look and action expressed discontent and impatience, and the answers which she gave Baptiste, when he reproached her good-humouredly for her dissatisfied air, were tart, short, and cutting. In fine, I conceived at first sight equal disgust for her, and prepossession in favour of her husband, whose appearance was calculated to inspire esteem and confidence. His countenance was open, sincere, and friendly; his manners had all the peasant’s honesty unaccompanied by his rudeness; his cheeks were broad, full, and ruddy; and in the solidity of his person he seemed to offer an ample apology for the leanness of his wife’s. From the wrinkles on his brow I judged him to be turned of sixty; but he bore his years well, and seemed still hearty and strong: the wife could not be more than thirty, but in spirits and vivacity she was infinitely older than the husband.