He was anxious to get her out of the room, so that he might make his bargain with the Delhommes.
However Nénesse interposed: "Excuse me, uncle," said he, "but I should be much obliged if you would kindly allow my cousin to remain. There is a matter which interests me deeply that I want to speak to you about; and it's always better—don't you think so?—to settle matters at once than to return to them two or three times."
Then rising from his seat, he proceeded to make his proposal like a well-mannered young man.
"I wish to tell you that it would make me very happy to have my cousin for my wife, if you would consent to it, and if she would also."
This declaration caused great surprise. Elodie was so overwhelmed with confusion that she sprang up from her seat and threw herself on Madame Charles's breast, in such a thrill of speechless bashfulness that she blushed to her very ears. Her grandmother exerted herself to calm her.
"Come, come, my little puss, this is really foolish of you!" said she. "Be reasonable, my dear. Your cousin won't eat you because he wants to marry you. I'm sure he said nothing that wasn't very nice and proper. Come, look at him, and don't be foolish."
Nothing, however, that her grandmother said could induce Elodie to show her face again.
"Upon my word, my lad," Monsieur Charles now said, "your proposal has taken me altogether by surprise. Perhaps it would have been better if you had spoken to me privately about it, for you see how very sensitive our darling is. But, whatever happens, you may satisfy yourself that you possess my esteem and respect, for you seem to me a good and industrious young fellow."
Delhomme, whose face had hitherto remained a perfect blank, now allowed three words to escape him:
"That he is!"