"My relations were proud and inflexible in their legitimist opinions. You cannot deny that they abandoned me to the disaster that threatened me, and that they worried very little over the loss of my fortune."
"You were even prouder than they, for you would never go on your knees to them."
"No, whether from recklessness or dignity, I never asked them for assistance."
"And you lost your fortune in a great lawsuit against your father's estate; everybody knows that. But you only lost the case because you chose to."
"And it was the noblest and most honorable thing my father ever did in his life," interposed Gilberte, with much warmth.
"My children," said Monsieur Antoine, "you mustn't say that I lost the case; I didn't allow it to come to trial."
"To be sure, to be sure," said Janille; "for if you had, you would have won it. There was only one opinion on that point."
"But my father, recognizing that possession in fact is not possession of right," said Gilberte, addressing Emile with animation, "refused to take advantage of his position. You must know this story, Monsieur Cardonnet, for my father would never dream of telling it to you, and you have so recently arrived in the province that you cannot have heard it yet. My grandfather had contracted debts of honor during my father's minority. He died before circumstances enabled him or made it an urgent duty to pay them. The claims of the creditors were of no value in law; but my father, when he investigated his affairs, found a minute of one of these claims among my grandfather's papers. He might have destroyed it and no one would have known of its existence. On the contrary, he produced it and sold all of the family property to pay a sacred debt. My father has brought me up upon principles which do not permit me to think that he did any more than his duty; but many wealthy people thought differently. Some called him a fool and madman. I am very glad that, when you hear certain upstarts say that Monsieur Antoine de Châteaubrun was ruined by his own folly, which in their eyes is the greatest possible dishonor, you will know what to think about my father's dissipation and wrong-headedness."
"Ah! mademoiselle," cried Emile, overpowered by his emotion, "how fortunate you are to be his daughter, and how I envy you this noble poverty!"
"Don't make me out a hero, my dear child," said Monsieur Antoine, pressing Emile's hand. "There is always some truth at the bottom of the judgments pronounced by men, even when they are harsh and unjust for the most part. It is very certain that I was always a little extravagant, that I understood nothing about domestic economy, or business, and that I deserve less credit than another for sacrificing my fortune, because I regretted it less."