"Yes, she does, Victorien."
I displayed some slight impatience:
"Uncle, I must ask you not to insist. Bérangère is a mere child; she does not know what she wants; she is incapable of any serious feeling; and I do not intend to think about her any more. On my part, it was just a fancy of which I shall soon be cured."
Noël Dorgeroux shrugged his shoulders:
"Lovers' quarrels! Now this is what I have to say to you, Victorien. The work at the Yard will take up all the winter. The amphitheatre will be open to the public on the fourteenth of May, to the day. The Easter holidays will fall a month earlier; and you shall marry my god-daughter during the holidays. Not a word; leave it to me. And leave both your settlements and your prospects to me as well. You can understand, my boy, that, when money is pouring in like water—as it will without a doubt—Victorien Beaugrand will throw up a profession which does not give him sufficient leisure for his private studies and that he will live with me, he and his wife. Yes, I said his wife; and I stick to it. Good-bye, my dear chap, not another word."
I walked on. He called me back:
"Say good-bye to me, Victorien."
He put his arms round me with greater fervour than usual; and I heard him murmur:
"Who can tell if we shall ever meet again? At my age! And threatened as I am, too!"