"All the more reason that I should."
"And why?"
"Who can appreciate the excellence of the armourer's work as well as the warrior? The excellence of a horse as well as the rider? the excellence of a musical instrument as well as the person who plays upon it? Pope Paganini has canonised Stradivarius, the maker of those wonderful violins the great artist plays so divinely; and I, who could spend millions so admirably, shall certainly feel like canonising my uncle—that heroic martyr to avarice—if Fate so wills that the means of prodigality which he had been accumulating penny by penny ever falls into my hands."
"My God!"
"What is the matter, Louis?"
"Then you do not know—"
"What?"
"I told you of my poor father's desire for a marriage between me and your cousin."
"Your uncle, ignorant of my refusal, and anxious to hasten this union which he desired as ardently as my father, apparently, left Dreux yesterday, in company with his daughter, and this morning—"