"I assure you that all this is extremely tiresome, monsieur. If you cannot explain more clearly, we had better bring this interview to an immediate conclusion."
"Very well, then. You believe your father to be a very poor man, do you not?"
"I am not ashamed of the fact."
"Oh, credulous youth that you are! Listen and bless me ever afterward."
As he spoke, M. de la Miraudière drew a large leather-bound book resembling a ledger toward him, and, after a moment's search, read aloud as follows:
"'Inventory of Personal Property of M. Alexandre Timoléon Bénédict Pamphile Richard, from information secured by the Committee on Loans of the Bank of France, May 1, 18——.
| "'1st. | Three thousand nine hundred and twenty shares of the Bank of France, market value, | 924,300 | fr. |
| "'2d. | Notes of the Mont de Piété, | 875,250 | |
| "'3d. | On Deposit in the Bank of France, | 259,130 | |
| "'Total, | 2,058,680 | fr.' |
"You see from these figures, my ingenuous young friend, that the known personal property of your honoured parent amounted, on the first of this month, to considerably over two million francs; but it is more than likely that, after the fashion of most misers who take a vast amount of pleasure in seeing and handling a part of their wealth, he has a large amount of money hoarded away in some convenient hiding-place. Even if this should not be the case, you see that the author of your being possesses more than two million francs, and as he spends barely twelve hundred francs out of an income of nearly one hundred thousand, you can form some idea of the amount of wealth you will enjoy some day, and you can no longer wonder at the offer I have just made you."
Louis was petrified with astonishment by this revelation. He could not utter a word, but merely gazed at the speaker with inexpressible amazement.
"You seem to be knocked all in a heap, my young friend. You act as if you were dazed."