Volume I Part 63 (1/2)
”No more than I expect to be elected to the Academy.--Rich! wealthy! Now I shall no longer be despised; my homage will no longer be spurned; that adored woman will be mine!
”What a new life for me! ah! blessed change!
My grief has pa.s.sed away like summer clouds.”
My hat--my handkerchief--my gloves--I have all that I require. Ah! my certificates of birth and of baptism and marriage. No, I don't need the last; it's of no consequence. Now I'm off.”
”Monsieur has not drunk his coffee.”
”Drink it, Madame Monin, drink it; it is no more than fair that you should partake of my good fortune.”
Chamoureau called on the notary, who confirmed what he had written and advised him to go at once to Havre, in order to obtain immediate possession of the fortune which was held at his disposal there.
That same day, our legatee took the express train for Havre. There he exhibited to the notary all the doc.u.ments which proved that he was the Sigismond Chamoureau to whom Monsieur Eustache-Hector Chamoureau, his cousin and G.o.dfather, had bequeathed all his property.
Two days later the former business agent was back in Paris, armed with the well-filled wallet which his G.o.dfather had bequeathed to him. It had all come so suddenly and been done so quickly that, when he was in his own rooms once more, Chamoureau wondered if he were not the plaything of a dream, and if he had really become rich. But the rotund wallet was in his hands; he could feel and count the bank-notes, the government obligations, and several drafts accepted by the richest bankers in Paris. Thereupon he said to himself:
”No, I am not dreaming; I am really in possession of a very respectable fortune; therefore I may aspire to the woman whom I idolize. I must not delay; my fate must be decided at once.”
He seated himself at his desk and wrote:
”Madame:
”It is no longer a humble real estate agent who lays his heart and his hand at your feet; my position has changed. An inheritance which I was far from expecting, but of which I have just come into possession, gives me an income of twenty thousand francs, in addition to twenty-five hundred which I already had.--I do not refer to my business, which I have abandoned.--I am therefore possessed of twenty-two thousand five hundred francs a year. This fortune I place at your disposal, soliciting anew the t.i.tle of your husband, which I should be proud to bear.
”If I have offended you, forgive me; I was absolutely innocent in the affair of the Champs-Elysees, where I went confident of my good fortune, and no less deceived than yourself. But since I have known you, my love for you has never diminished; on the contrary, it has grown greater and greater every day. I will not ask any questions concerning the past, and I shall always have the blindest confidence with respect to the present and the future. I await your reply.”
Having signed this letter, Chamoureau went out and gave it to a messenger in whom he had confidence.
”Ten francs for you,” he said, ”if you bring me an answer. If she says that she will write, insist, implore her to give you a line on the spot.
I will wait for you in this cafe, where I shall absorb much chartreuse, to give me patience and courage.”
Since the adventure on the Champs-Elysees, the fair Thelenie's humor was uniformly morose; sometimes she pa.s.sed whole days absorbed in her thoughts. Her friend Helose's society had not the power to divert her, and when that young woman said to her:
”Do you mean to pa.s.s your whole life regretting that little fellow?”
Thelenie would reply:
”I no longer regret him, I no longer love him; I hate him now! But I shall not be satisfied until I have had my revenge.”
Chamoureau's messenger found Thelenie in this frame of mind. She read the letter which was brought to her, and to which she was told that an answer was expected. She read it a second time more carefully, then handed it to Mademoiselle Helose, saying:
”Here, read this proposal that is made to me.”
Mademoiselle Helose punctured her perusal of the letter with many ”ohs!” and ”ahs!” and when she had read it through she exclaimed:
”Mon Dieu! why, this is magnificent!--twenty-two thousand five hundred francs a year! it's superb! And a man who will ask no questions concerning the past and will have blind confidence in the future! Why, that's a model husband! Is it possible that you can refuse all that?”