The president gave Charles the following letter:—
My Cousin,—Monsieur le president de Bonfons has undertaken to
place in your hands the aquittance for all claims upon my uncle,
also a receipt by which I acknowledge having received from you the
sum total of those claims. I have heard of a possible failure, and
I think that the son of a bankrupt may not be able to marry
Mademoiselle d’Aubrion. Yes, my cousin, you judged rightly of my
mind and of my manners. I have, it is true, no part in the world;
I understand neither its calculations nor its customs; and I could
not give you the pleasures that you seek in it. Be happy,
according to the social conventions to which you have sacrificed
our love. To make your happiness complete I can only offer you
your father’s honor. Adieu! You will always have a faithful friend
in your cousin
Eugenie.
The president smiled at the exclamation which the ambitious young man could not repress as he received the documents.
“We shall announce our marriages at the same time,” remarked Monsieur de Bonfons.
“Ah! you marry Eugenie? Well, I am delighted; she is a good girl. But,” added Charles, struck with a luminous idea, “she must be rich?”
“She had,” said the president, with a mischievous smile, “about nineteen millions four days ago; but she has only seventeen millions to-day.”
Charles looked at him thunderstruck.
“Seventeen mil—”
“Seventeen millions; yes, monsieur. We shall muster, Mademoiselle Grandet and I, an income of seven hundred and fifty thousand francs when we marry.”