Les Misérables Volume III Book 2 Chapter 5-8

In which we observe the venerable M. Gillenormand, a relic of a bygone age, whose peculiar domestic arrangements and idiosyncratic rules reveal much of his spirited yet solitary character. Amidst his retinue of erstwhile servants and the quiet company of his uncompromising spinster daughter, he presides over the restrained rhythms of a household shaded by both old-fashioned dignity and subtle human tenderness.