Lucilio seemed to share her anxiety. Lauriane felt that she held in her hands for a long while, perhaps forever, the happiness of that family which had bestowed so much happiness on herself. She became altogether depressed, and, seeing that the marquis too was weeping, she gave the old man and the young man each an equally affectionate kiss, entreating them to be reasonable and not to borrow trouble concerning a future which she had not yet faced.
De Beuvre shrugged his shoulders.
"You are all very foolish," he said; "and as to you, Bois-Doré, I consider you thrice mad to have fed this poor schoolboy's brain on your absurd romances. You see the result of spoiling a child. He deems himself a man, and wishes to marry, forsooth! at an age when all he needs is the birch."
These harsh words put the finishing touch to Mario's despair; they made the marquis seriously angry.
"You seem to be in the mood for making unnecessarily cruel remarks, neighbor," he said. "The birch has no place in my method with a child who has displayed the courage of a gallant man. I am well aware that he should not marry for several years; but it seemed to me that I remembered that our Lauriane herself did not wish to marry for seven years from that day last year, when, in this very room, she gave me a pledge."
"Oh! let us not speak of that ghastly pledge!" cried Lauriane.
"Nay, let us speak of it and give thanks to God," replied the marquis, "since that dagger was the means of restoring to me my brother's child. Thus it was through your blessed hands, dear Lauriane, that that happiness entered my house; and, if I was mad to hope that you too would enter it, forgive me. The happier one is, the more greedy one is of happiness. As for you, friend De Beuvre, you surely will not deny your encouragement of my idea. Your letters prove it; you said: 'If Lauriane chooses to have patience and not go mad over the thought of marriage until Mario is nineteen or twenty years of age, I assure you that I shall be very glad.'"
"I do not deny it!" rejoined De Beuvre; "but I should be an idiot not to look at the question of my daughter's marriage in both aspects: the future and the present. Now, the future is less secure; who will assure me that we shall all be in this world six years hence? And then, when I wrote as you say, my dear neighbor, my position was not all that could be desired; and I tell you plainly that now it is much better than you imagine. So listen to me, Monsieur d'Ars, and you, marquis, and you above all, my dear daughter. I rely upon secrecy being maintained as to that which I am about to confide to none but persons of honor and discretion. I have doubled my fortune in this last campaign. That was my principal purpose, and I have accomplished it, while serving my cause at the risk of my life. I fought bad men to the best of my ability, and contributed, like others, to the honorable terms of peace which the king grants us. And so, Monsieur d'Ars, if you do me honor by asking for my daughter's hand, it is only by virtue of your name and your personal merit; for I am probably as rich as you.—And do you, friend Sylvain, when you manifest your friendship for me by the same request, understand that your treasure has no power to dazzle me; for I have my own treasure, three ships upon the sea, all full of silver, gold and precious wares, as says the ballad.
"And so, my dear and noble lords, you will give me time for reflection before replying to you; and my daughter, knowing now that it will not be difficult to find another husband for her, will take counsel with herself and form her own decision."
Thereupon there was nothing more to be done than to say good-night.