“Then we are once more reunited?” said Andrea.
“Once more,” replied the major.
“Never more to be separated?”
“Why, as to that—I think, my dear son, you must be by this time so accustomed to France as to look upon it almost as a second country.”
“The fact is,” said the young man, “that I should be exceedingly grieved to leave it.”
“As for me, you must know I cannot possibly live out of Lucca; therefore I shall return to Italy as soon as I can.”
“But before you leave France, my dear father, I hope you will put me in possession of the documents which will be necessary to prove my descent.”
“Certainly; I am come expressly on that account; it has cost me much trouble to find you, but I had resolved on giving them into your hands, and if I had to recommence my search, it would occupy all the few remaining years of my life.”
“Where are these papers, then?”
“Here they are.”