“But, my dear mother, consider yourself,” said Paul.
“I,” replied Madame Evangelista, “I want such things no longer. Yes, Paul, I am going to be your bailiff at Lanstrac. It would be folly in me to go to Paris at the moment when I ought to be here to liquidate my property and settle my affairs. I shall grow miserly for my grandchildren.”
“Dear mother,” said Paul, much moved, “ought I to accept this exchange without paying you the difference?”
“Good heavens! are you not, both of you, my dearest interests? Do you suppose I shall not find happiness in thinking, as I sit in my chimney-corner, ‘Natalie is dazzling to-night at the Duchesse de Berry’s ball’? When she sees my diamond at her throat and my ear-rings in her ears she will have one of those little enjoyments of vanity which contribute so much to a woman’s happiness and make her so gay and fascinating. Nothing saddens a woman more than to have her vanity repressed; I have never seen an ill-dressed woman who was amiable or good-humored.”
“Heavens! what was Mathias thinking about?” thought Paul. “Well, then, mamma,” he said, in a low voice, “I accept.”
“But I am confounded!” said Natalie.
At this moment Solonet arrived to announce the good news that he had found among the speculators of Bordeaux two contractors who were much attracted by the house, the gardens of which could be covered with dwellings.
“They offer two hundred and fifty thousand francs,” he said; “but if you consent to the sale, I can make them give you three hundred thousand. There are three acres of land in the garden.”
“My husband paid two hundred thousand for the place, therefore I consent,” she replied. “But you must reserve the furniture and the mirrors.”
“Ah!” said Solonet, “you are beginning to understand business.”