Chapters 6-7 Summary

Twenty years prior to the start of the novel, Baldabiou arrives without introduction in the town of Lavilledieu and drops an orange silk scarf on the mayor's desk. The mayor dismisses it as "woman's stuff" and Baldabiou informs him that it is "money." Baldabiou builds a silk mill, builds a shed for raising silkworms, and builds and dedicates a chapel to Saint Agnes. Seven months later, he returns to the mayor's office and shows him 30,000 francs. The mayor calls it "money" and Baldabiou said that it is proof the mayor is a "blockhead." He suggests that the mayor keep his nose out of Baldabiou's business. Baldabiou prefers to share secret knowledge than to suppress competition, and when other men follow him into the silk business, he provides information and creates no obstacles. As a result, within the next five years seven...