"But I have offered you an opportunity to make her acquaintance."
"That would be useless, monsieur. I do not doubt Mlle. de Beaumesnil's merits in the least, but as I should tell you all under the circumstances, I am not free. My heart and my honour are alike pledged."
"You are betrothed already?"
"In short, monsieur, I am about to marry a young lady whom I both love and esteem."
"Great God! What are you telling me, monsieur?" exclaimed the unfortunate baron, fairly gasping for breath, so great was his consternation.
"The truth, monsieur, and such an announcement will suffice, I am sure, to convince you that—without the slightest intended disparagement of Mlle. de Beaumesnil—I cannot even consider the proposition you have made to me."
"But if this marriage doesn't come off, I shall lose my deputyship," thought the baron, despairingly. "Why the devil did the marquis insist upon my giving my consent if this young idiot was going to be fool enough to refuse such a colossal fortune? And there is my ward who declared to me this very morning that she would never marry anybody but Olivier Raymond. The marquis told me that I would find this an enigma, but all enigmas have their answers, and this can be no exception to the rule!"
So the baron, unwilling to renounce his hope of political preferment, added aloud:
"My dear sir, I implore you to reflect. Do not decide hastily. You have plighted your troth,—well and good! You love a young girl, you say,—so be it, but thank Heaven, you are still free, and there are sacrifices which one should have the courage to make for the sake of his future. Think, monsieur, an income of more than three million francs a year from landed property! Why, nobody on earth could be expected to refuse such a fortune as that! And the young girl who loves you—if she really loves you for yourself alone—will be the first, if she is not frightfully selfish, to advise you to accept this unexpected good fortune with resignation. An income of over three million francs, my dear sir, and from real estate, remember."
"I have told you that my heart and honour are alike pledged, monsieur, so it pains me to see that, in spite of the favourable reports you have heard concerning me, you still believe me capable of a base and cowardly act," added Olivier, severely.