"The enormously wealthy heiress you were talking to us about before I went away."
"Mlle. de Beaumesnil?" exclaimed Gerald, in profound astonishment.
"The same. This magnificent estate belongs to her and yields her a yearly income of twenty thousand livres; and it seems that she has dozens of such properties."
"What the devil can one do with so much money?" exclaimed the veteran.
"It is certainly a strange coincidence," murmured Gerald, thoughtfully.
"And why?"
"Because there is a possibility of my marrying Mlle. de Beaumesnil."
"Indeed, M. Gerald," said the veteran, artlessly, "so a desire to marry has seized you since I saw you last?"
"So you are in love with Mlle. de Beaumesnil?" asked Olivier, no less naïvely.
Gerald, surprised at these questions, replied, after a moment of reflection: