"Certainly, M. le marquis."
"Then allow me to say that your desire to see your daughter Bertha Princesse de Haut-Martel would result in nothing more or less than a cruel mockery of religion, nobility of rank, and marriage,—three sacred things, as you call them."
"How is that, monsieur?"
"Mlle. de Senneterre would outrage all the laws of marriage and religion, or rather of nature and the Creator, which is even worse, by pledging love and fidelity to an old hunchback like me; and I, in turn, would bring disgrace and ridicule upon the nobility in general, and upon the houses of Senneterre and Haut-Martel in particular, by running any risk of perpetuating their illustrious line with a set of hideous little hunchbacks made in my image. They might serve as convincing proof of my wife's resignation and faithfulness, but they would certainly give the world a droll opinion of our great historic races."
"Really, M. le marquis—I—"
"You are going to cite Prince Eugène, possibly, as an example for me, and I ought, perhaps, to feel greatly flattered by the comparison, but it would not be well to impair the lustre of such rarities by multiplying them. I am extremely grateful to you for your kind offer, and Mlle. Bertha, believe me, will be equally grateful to me for having declined it. It depends entirely upon you, however, whether a union of our two powerful houses is realised or not, and also whether this income of two hundred thousand francs is allowed to go out of your family. I make haste to assure you that I am too thoroughly convinced of my own unworthiness to venture to lift my eyes to you, madame la duchesse," added the hunchback, with a low, though decidedly ironical bow. "In the first place I should make you the most detestable husband in the world, and then I have no inclination for marriage."
"It is hardly necessary to decline with such alacrity a proposition that has never been made to you," replied the Duchesse de Senneterre, rather spitefully. "You would oblige me by explaining yourself more clearly, however, for I never was good at solving enigmas. You are kind enough to speak of a union of our two houses, and of preventing your fortune from going out of my family, but I haven't the slightest idea how you propose to bring these things about."
"First permit me to say—not at all by way of reproach, understand—that you were not so very difficult to please in regard to lineage when Gerald's marriage with Mlle. de Beaumesnil was under consideration. Beaumesnil is not an aristocratic name by any means,—the grandfather of the late count, though a highly respected man, was simply M. Joseph Vert-Puis, a very wealthy banker."
"I know perfectly well that Mlle. Vert-Puis de Beaumesnil is a mere nobody, so far as birth is concerned, but—"
"But the numerous millions gild this recently ennobled plebeian, do they not? Very well, though that number of millions may have to be divided by four or five, what would you say to a notice couched in the following terms: