How we cite our quotes: (Section.Paragraph)
Quote #1
For a hundred francs a year, she did the cooking and the housework, she sewed, washed and ironed, she could bridle a horse, fatten the poultry and churn the butter, and she was unfailingly loyal to her mistress, even though the latter was not a pleasant person. (1.2)
Humility is a funny word. It can mean humble, but also has a little to do with being humbled, as in humiliated. We're not saying that Madame Aubain was constantly humiliating Félicité, but Félicité was always in an inferior position to Madame Aubain and had a very submissive attitude toward the boss-lady.
Quote #2
By the time she reached her fifties, she was ageless—and, with her constant silence, her upright figure and her measured gestures, she seemed like a woman made out of wood, a kind of automaton that moved without thinking. (1.8)
If the opposite of humility is pride, then Félicité definitely falls on the humble side of that spectrum. Her 'agelessness' shows that she doesn't worry about her appearance; she's all business. And her mechanical movements are just the result of years of work—it's not like she's showing off her mad housecleaning skills or anything.
Quote #3
[. . . H]e proposed marriage. She did not believe him at first, but he swore solemnly that he meant it. (2.9)
When Théodore proposes marriage to Félicité, she doesn't believe him. Not because he's one to joke, but because she can't imagine someone like him would want to marry someone like her. It's her humility—that sense that she is beneath everyone—that keeps her from imagining anything good for herself.