I thought I must have misunderstood him.
"Uncle!" I exclaimed, "what did you say?"
"Why, you rascal, I see that I must give her to you, since you love each other so consumedly!"
Kondjé-Gul could not repress a scream of joy. We both threw ourselves into my uncle's arms at the same time.
"Yes," he said, "what a jolly couple they look! But it was your aunt Eudoxia who led me at last to play this card! Here I am nicely balked of all my fine schemes!"
"Oh!" exclaimed Kondjé-Gul, "we will love each other so much!"
"Well, well! There, they're quite smothering me! May the good God bless you! go along. But now we shall have to come to an understanding with this excellent mother; for according to these infernal French laws, which complicate everything, her consent is necessary for your marriage."
"I certainly shall not give it," said Madame Murrah furiously.
"All right! We will see about that," he continued. "That is a matter to be arranged between us, and for that purpose I shall go to your house to-morrow. Only, I give you warning, no noise, please, no silly attempts to carry off your daughter, otherwise we shall wait until she is of age in two years' time, and then you will have nothing."
Don't be surprised, Louis, if for the rest of this page I scrawl like a monkey. At the recollection of this scene, my eyes are quite obscured by a veil of mist. By Jove, so much the worse! for now it's all breaking into real tears.