"What shall I do with them?"
"Take them."
"But to whom are the twenty thousand crowns to belong?"
"To you, my brother; it is all that I have to give, for, as you know, when I left Monsieur d'Épernon I asked nothing for myself, and my houses and lands were seized."
"What do you say, sister?" cried Cauvignac, in dismay.
"What idea have you in your head now?"
"Simply, Roland, that you are to take the twenty thousand crowns."
"That's very well for me, but what about yourself?"
"I have no use for that money now."
"Ah! I understand,—you have other funds; so much the better. But it's an enormous sum, sister; think of it! It's too much for me, at least at one stroke."