his client from concessions. "We are concerned now with the interests

and welfare of three generations. Have WE wasted the missing millions?
We are simply endeavoring to solve difficulties of which we are wholly

guiltless."
"Marry us, and don't haggle," said Solonet.

"Haggle! do you call it haggling to defend the interests of father and
mother and children?" said Mathias.

"Yes," said Paul, continuing his remarks to Madame Evangelista, "I
deplore the extravagance of my youth, which does not permit me to stop

this discussion, as you deplore your ignorance of business and your
involuntary wastefulness. God is my witness that I am not thinking, at

this moment, of myself. A simple life at Lanstrac does not alarm me;
but how can I ask Mademoiselle Natalie to renounce her tastes, her

habits? Her very existence would be changed."
"Where did Evangelista get his millions?" said the widow.

"Monsieur Evangelista was in business," replied the old notary; "he
played in the great game of commerce; he despatched ships and made

enormous sums; we are simply a landowner, whose capital is invested,
whose income is fixed."

"There is still a way to harmonize all interests," said Solonet,
uttering this sentence in a high falsetto tone, which silenced the

other three and drew their eyes and their attention upon himself.
This young man was not unlike a skilful coachman who holds the reins

of four horses, and amuses himself by first exciting his animals and
then subduing them. He had let loose these passions, and then, in

turn, he calmed them, making Paul, whose life and happiness were in
the balance, sweat in his harness, as well as his own client, who

could not clearly see her way through this involved discussion.
"Madame Evangelista," he continued, after a slight pause, "can resign

her investment" target="_blank" title="n.投资；(时间等)投入">investment in the Five-per-cents at once, and she can sell this
house. I can get three hundred thousand francs for it by cutting the

land into small lots. Out of that sum she can give you one hundred and
fifty thousand francs. In this way she pays down nine hundred thousand

of her daughter's patrimony, immediately. That, to be sure, is not all
that she owes her daughter, but where will you find, in France, a

better dowry?"
"Very good," said Maitre Mathias; "but what, then, becomes of madame?"

At this question, which appeared to imply consent, Solonet said,
softly, to himself, "Well done, old fox! I've caught you!"

"Madame," he replied, aloud, "will keep the hundred and fifty thousand
francs remaining from the sale of the house. This sum, added to the

value of her furniture, can be invested in an annuity which will give
her twenty thousand francs a year. Monsieur le comte can arrange to

provide a residence for her under his roof. Lanstrac is a large house.
You have also a house in Paris," he went on, addressing himself to

Paul. "Madame can, therefore, live with you wherever you are. A widow
with twenty thousand francs a year, and no household to maintain, is

richer than madame was when she possessed her whole fortune. Madame
Evangelista has only this one daughter; Monsieur le comte is without

relations; it will be many years before your heirs attain their
majority; no conflict of interests is, therefore, to be feared. A

mother-in-law and a son-in-law placed in such relations will form a
household of united interests. Madame Evangelista can make up for the

remaining deficit by paying a certain sum for her support from her
annuity, which will ease your way. We know that madame is too generous

and too large-minded to be willing to be a burden on her children. In
this way you can make one household, united and happy, and be able to

spend, in your own right, one hundred thousand francs a year. Is not
that sum sufficient, Monsieur le comte, to enjoy, in all countries,

the luxuries of life, and to satisfy all your wants and caprices?
Believe me, a young couple often feel the need of a third member of

the household; and, I ask you, what third member could be so desirable
as a good mother?"

"A little paradise!" exclaimed the old notary.
Shocked to see his client's joy at this proposal, Mathias sat down on

an ottoman, his head in his hands, plunged in reflections that were
evidently painful. He knew well the involved phraseology in which

notaries and lawyers wrap up, intentionally, malicious schemes, and he
was not the man to be taken in by it. He now began, furtively, to

watch his brother notary and Madame Evangelista as they conversed with
Paul, endeavoring to detect some clew to the deep-laid plot which was

beginning to appear upon the surface.
"Monsieur," said Paul to Solonet, "I thank you for the pains you take

to conciliate our interests. This arrangement will solve all
difficulties far more happily than I expected--if," he added, turning

to Madame Evangelista, "it is agreeable to you, madame; for I could
not desire anything that did not equally please you."

"I?" she said; "all that makes the happiness of my children is joy to
me. Do not consider me in any way."

"That would not be right," said Paul, eagerly. "If your future is not
honorably provided for, Natalie and I would suffer more than you would

suffer for yourself."
"Don't be uneasy, Monsieur le comte," interposed Solonet.

"Ah!" thought old Mathias, "they'll make him kiss the rod before they
scourge him."

"You may feel quite satisfied," continued Solonet. "There are so many
enterprises going on in Bordeaux at this moment that investment" target="_blank" title="n.投资；(时间等)投入">investments for

annuities can be negotiated on very advantageous terms. After
deducting from the proceeds of the house and furniture the hundred and

fifty thousand francs we owe you, I think I can guarantee to madame
that two hundred and fifty thousand will remain to her. I take upon

myself to invest that sum in a first mortgage on property worth a
million, and to obtain ten per cent for it,--twenty-five thousand

francs a year. Consequently, we are marrying on nearly equal fortunes.
In fact, against your forty-six thousand francs a year, Mademoiselle

Natalie brings you forty thousand a year in the Five-per-cents, and
one hundred and fifty thousand in a round sum, which gives, in all,

forty-seven thousand francs a year."
"That is evident," said Paul.

As he ended his speech, Solonet had cast a sidelong glance at his
client, intercepted by Mathias, which meant: "Bring up your reserves."

"But," exclaimed Madame Evangelista, in tones of joy that did not seem
to be feigned, "I can give Natalie my diamonds; they are worth, at

least, a hundred thousand francs."
"We can have them appraised," said the notary. "This will change the

whole face of things. Madame can then keep the proceeds of her house,
all but fifty thousand francs. Nothing will prevent Monsieur le comte

from giving us a receipt in due form, as having received, in full,
Mademoiselle Natalie's inheritance from her father; this will close,

of course, the guardianship account. If madame, with Spanish
generosity, robs herself in this way to fulfil her obligations, the

least that her children can do is to give her a full receipt."
"Nothing could be more just than that," said Paul. "I am simply

overwhelmed by these generous proposals."
"My daughter is another myself," said Madame Evangelista, softly.

Maitre Mathias detected a look of joy on her face when she saw that
the difficulties were being removed: that joy, and the previous

forgetfulness of the diamonds, which were now brought forward like
fresh troops, confirmed his suspicions.

"The scene has been prepared between them as gamblers prepare the
cards to ruin a pigeon," thought the old notary. "Is this poor boy,

whom I saw born, doomed to be plucked alive by that woman, roasted by
his very love, and devoured by his wife? I, who have nursed these fine

estates for years with such care, am I to see them ruined in a single
night? Three million and a half to be hypothecated for eleven hundred

thousand francs these women will force him to squander!"
Discovering thus in the soul of the elder woman intentions which,

without involving crime, theft, swindling, or any actually" target="_blank" title="ad.事实上；实际上">actually evil or