Then he tried to forget the cruel stratagem his father had resorted to, and even comforted himself with the thought that he should have secured the old man's consent to his marriage with Mariette eventually, and that, though he might not have confessed to the wealth he possessed, he would at least have provided comfortably for the young couple.
The discovery of this treasure excited in Louis's breast none of that avaricious or revengeful joy that the heirs of misers often feel when they think of the cruel privations a parent's avarice has imposed upon them.
On the contrary, it was with devout respect that the young man broke the seal of the letter which doubtless contained his aged father's last wishes.
CHAPTER XII.
A VOICE FROM THE GRAVE.
This communication, dated about two months before, read as follows:
"My Beloved Son:—When you read these lines I shall have ceased to live.
"You have always believed me to be poor; on the contrary, I leave you a large fortune accumulated by avarice.
"I have been a miser. I do not deny it. On the contrary, I glory in the fact.
"And these are my reasons:
"Up to the time of your birth,—which deprived me of your mother,—I had, without being extravagant, been indifferent about increasing either my own patrimony or the dowry my wife had brought me; but as soon as I had a son, that desire to make ample provision for him which is the sacred duty of every parent gradually aroused a spirit of economy, then of parsimony, and finally of avarice, in my breast.