"How strange. It seemed so perfectly natural to me that I wasn't at all surprised at it."
"But in the first place, though this is not the greatest objection, by any means, M. Onésime has no fortune."
"But how often you have told me that all these business trips, and all these frequent absences that grieve me so much, have been made solely for the purpose of amassing a handsome dowry for me."
"That is true."
"Then, in that case, M. Onésime does not need any fortune."
"Nevertheless, though it is not absolutely indispensable that M. Onésime should possess a fortune, it is certainly very desirable. There is another objection."
"Another?"
"M. Onésime has no profession and consequently no assured social position."
"He is not to blame for that, poor fellow! Who could possibly consider his enforced idleness a crime? Will, education, capability, none of these are lacking. It is his terrible infirmity that proves such an obstacle to everything he undertakes."