Class/Status: Let's clear this up.
So many are calling Auguste a "wealthy peasant" or a "poor merchant" or what have you. Let's just get this out of the way.
He was a member of the landed gentry. He was wealthy, as illustrated by the large number of attendants, finery, and servants when he was alive, and owned his own land. Landowners were not "peasants". They were, in a way, the middle class. Commoners, yes, but even Sir Thomas More was a "commoner, until Henry VIII conveyed on him a title. Peasants, on the other hand, do not retain servants. The only reason Danielle became a peasant is because the manor became the property of Rodmilla, and since Danielle was not the landowner, and also became an indentured servant, she was a peasant.
Auguste was likely a merchant, since he had been out of town on business and told Danielle he would have to be gone to "Avignon for a fortnight".
Someone mentioned earlier Kate Middleton, for example, is a peasant. No. She's a commoner. Even in "Pride and Prejudice", Elizabeth tells Darcy's aunt, "I am a gentleman's daughter." They're poor, sure, but ar e not peasants because their father is a landowner, a member of the gentry, hence "gentleman".
Okay. There we go.