"True, Jacques, and yet I have not been able to find, in all the good accorded me, either peace or contentment."
"What have you to wish for? You are rich, honored, and have a family who love you."
"Yes," replied Gontran; "but this same fortune has cost me the lawsuit for which I have just made the third voyage to Macon; my good reputation has not deterred the opposing lawyer from slander; and as to my family—"
"Well?" inquired Jacques.
"Well! my sister, with whom I always lived so affectionately, has just quarrelled with me."
"It will be a short quarrel."
"No, no; I am tired of working without profit to establish order in her affairs. I have been too much annoyed by her want of system and reason."
"Think of her excellent heart and you will forgive her."
"Oh! I know that you will always find a good reason for me to bear my sorrows patiently; you have a recipe for every wound of the soul, and if I press you a little, you will prove me in the wrong to complain, and that all is quite right here below."