At last the meal was over, and we rose from the table.
"Pray lead me to your work-room. I have yet to hand you over my dowry."
I laughed. "Time enough for that a week or more hence. No? Well, any day you please; but not now." Still she persisted.
"It has to be done this evening. I can't keep it any longer. You did not accept of it from Diodora, so you must take it from me. It is no longer my own—it is yours."
"Dearest, there is no such distinction existing! Since this blessed morning neither of us can claim possession of anything that is not common to both alike. What is mine is all yours, and what is yours I claim all for myself! For the marriage tie has made us one for ever!"
"But pray come," she said again; "I have the chest with the securities here with me, and I should like to have it all over."
I sighed and obeyed. At the door of my study she left me for a moment, returning instantly with a rosewood chest, richly ornamented with silver. On one of her bracelets a tiny filigree key was dangling; with this key she opened the chest, and then, stepping back, she said—
"Convince yourself. The contents must amount to exactly one million of florins."
"I am quite convinced," I said, "and accept it as correct."
"That you shall not. Let us take out everything, and reckon up the amount." With that she took the papers out herself, and I had to sit down, take slate and pencil, while she dictated to me the value of each bond, its title, and, looking into every one, she satisfied herself that the coupons were attached to it.