Volume III Part 25 (2/2)
”The ht that he was ave everyone the idea of a butcher, and reat fellows of twenty and twenty-taiting quietly in their chairs
Monsieur de Bourneval, who had been invited to be present, came in and stood behindgray No doubt he was prepared for as going to happen, and the lawyer double-locked the door and began to read the will, after having opened the envelope, which was sealed with red wax, and whose contents he was ignorant of, in our presence”
My friend stopped suddenly and got up, and fro-table he took an old paper, unfolded it, kissed it, and then continued: ”This is the will of ned, Anne Catherine-Genevieve-Mathilde de Croixlure, the legitimate wife of Leopold-Joseph Goutran de Courcils, sound in body and mind, here express my last wishes
”'I first of all ask God, and then my dear son Rene, to pardon me for the act I areat enough to understandI was married out of calculation, then despised, misunderstood, oppressed and constantly deceived by
”'My eldest sons never loved me, never spoiltht to have been, and I owe the more after my death The ties of blood cannot exist without daily and constant affection An ungrateful son is less than a stranger; he is a culprit, for he has no right to be indifferent towards his mother
”'I have always trembled before men, before their unjust laws, their inhuman custoer any fear Dead, I fling aside disgraceful hypocrisy; I dare to speak n the secret of my heart
”'I therefore leave that part of my fortune of which the law allows me to dispose, as a deposit with my dear lover Pierre-Gennes-Simon de Bourneval, to revert afterwards to our dear son, Rene
”'(This wish is, moreover, formulated more precisely in a notarial deed)
”'And I declare before the Supree who hears me, that I should have cursed heaven and my own existence, if I had not met my lover's deep, devoted, tender, unshaken affection, if I had not felt in his arms that the Creator made His creatures to love, sustain and console each other, and to weep together in the hours of sadness
”'Monsieur de Courcils is the father of my two eldest sons; Rene alone owes his life to Monsieur de Bourneval I pray to the Master of men and of their destinies, to place father and son above social prejudices, to make them love each other until they die, and to love hts, and my last wish
”'MATHILDE DE CROIXLUCE'”
”'Monsieur de Courcils had arisen and he cried:
”'It is the will of a mad woman'
”Then Monsieur de Bourneval stepped forward and said in a loud and penetrating voice: 'I, Si contains nothing but the strict truth, and I am ready to prove it by letters which I possess'
”On hearing that, Monsieur de Courcils went up to hi to collar each other There they stood, both of the My mother's husband stammered out: 'You are a worthless wretch!' And the other replied in a loud, dry voice: 'We will meet soly face, and challenged you a long tiht of the peace ofher lifeti to me, he said: 'You are ht to take you away, but I shall assume it, if you will kindly co, and ent out together; I was certainly three parts mad
”Two days later Monsieur de Bourneval killed Monsieur de Courcils in a duel My brothers, fearing soues, and I offered them, and they accepted, half the fortune which mythat which the law gave me, but which was not really mine Monsieur de Bourneval died three years afterwards, and I have not consoled myself yet”
He rose fro in front of me, he said:
”Well, I say that my mother's as one of the randest acts that a woave him both my hands: