Volume III Part 4 (1/2)
”M le Noir told hter of a councillor, and I did not i beneath her”
”There will be no question of such a thing in this instance, sir; and, after all, what isbeneath one? My niece's intended is an honest, and therefore a noble, man, and I am sure it will be her fault if she does not lead a life of perfect happiness with hi she loves hiood tiive pain to the young lady, who listened in silence, I changed the conversation to the enormous crohich would be present at the execution of Da this horrible sight I offered thee ith an excellent view The ladies accepted with great pleasure, and I pro as a , but I knew that in Paris, as everywhere,After dinner I went out on the plea of business, and, taking the first coach I ca a first floorin excellent position for three louis I paid in advance, taking care to have a receipt
My business over, I hastened to rejoin the coed in piquet Mdlle de la Meure, who knew nothing about it, was tired of looking on I ca to say ent to the other end of the room
”Your letter, dearest, has made ence and such admirable characteristics as would win you the fervent adoration of every ood sense”
”I only want one man's love I will be content with the esteeel, I will make you my wife, and I shall bless tillchosen before other men ould not have refused your hand, even without the fifty thousand crohich are nothing in colad you like me so much”
”Could I do otherwise? And now that you knowhastily, but trust in et how I am placed”
”I will bear it in mind Let me have time to take a house, to furnish it and to put myself in a position in which I shall be worthy of your hand
You must remember that I am only in furnished apartments; that you are well connected, and that I should not like to be regarded as a fortune-hunter”
”You know that my intended husband will soon arrive?”
”Yes, I will take care of that”
”When he does come, you know, matters will be pushed on rapidly”
”Not too rapidly for me to be able to set you free in twenty-four hours, and without letting your aunt know that the blow comes from me You n affairs, on being assured that you wish to et you an inviolable asylum in the best convent in Paris He will also retain counsel on your behalf, and if your mother's will is properly drawn out your aunt will soon be obliged to hand over your dowry, and to give security for the rest of the property Do not trouble yourself about the matter, but let the Dunkirk merchant come when he likes At all hazards, you may reckon upon me, and you may be sure you will not be in your aunt's house on the day fixed for the wedding”
”I confide in you entirely, but for goodness' sake say no more on a circumstance which wounds e because you took liberties with ?”
”Yes, partly, at all events; and you ought to know that if I had not good reasons I should have done a very foolish thing in offering to marry you, but I may as well tell you that, liberties or no liberties, I should always have liked you better than anyone”
I was besideher hand I covered it with tender and respectful kisses; and I feel certain that if a notary and priest had been then and there available, I should have married her without the smallest hesitation
Full of each other, like all lovers, we paid no attention to the horrible racket that was going on at the other end of the roo, and leaving my intended I rejoined the company to quiet Tiretta
I saw on the table a casket, its lid open, and full of all sorts of jewels; close by were twowith Tiretta, who held a book in one hand I saw at once that they were talking about a lottery, but ere they disputing? Tiretta told me they were a pair of knaves who had won thirty or forty louis of him by means of the book, which he handed to amesters, ”this book treats of a lottery in which all the calculations are made in the fairest manner possible It contains twelve hundred leaves, two hundred being winning leaves, while the rest are blanks Anyone ants to play has only to pay a crown, and then to put a pin's point at random between two leaves of the closed book The book is then opened at the place where the pin is, and if the leaf is blank the player loses; but if, on the other hand, the leaf bears a nu ticket, and an article of the value indicated on the ticket is then handed to him Please to observe, sir, that the lowest prize is twelve francs, and there are some numbers worth as much as six hundred francs, and even one to the value of twelve hundred We have been playing for an hour, and have lost several costly articles, andworth six louis, but as she preferred cash, she continued playing and lost the ained”
”Yes,” said the aunt, ”and these gentleame; which proves it is all a ues,” said Tiretta
”But gentlemen,” answered one of them, ”in that case the receivers of the Governave him a box on the ear I threw myself between the two combatants, and told them not to speak a word