"Waking as well as dreaming, you are, and ever will be, the best and most affectionate of daughters," said Cloarek, deeply touched. "But there is one thing about your dream that surprises me very much." "And what is that?" "Your marriage with Onésime." "Really?" "Yes." "How strange. It seemed so perfectly natural to me that I wasn't at all surprised at it." "But in the first place, though this is not the greatest objection, by any means, M. Onésime has no fortune." "But how often you have told me that all these business trips, and all these frequent absences that grieve me so much, have been made solely for the purpose of amassing a handsome dowry for me." "That is true." "Then, in that case, M. Onésime does not need any fortune." "Nevertheless, though it is not absolutely indispensable that M. Onésime should possess a fortune, it is certainly very desirable. There is another objection." "Another?" "M. Onésime has no profession and consequently no assured social position." "He is not to blame for that, poor fellow! Who could possibly consider his enforced idleness a crime? Will, education, capability, none of these are lacking. It is his terrible infirmity that proves such an obstacle to everything he undertakes." "You are right, my child; this infirmity is an insuperable obstacle that will unfortunately prevent him from achieving success in any career; from creating any position for himself, and even from marrying, except in dreams, understand." "I don't understand you at all, my dear father. I really don't." "What! my child, don't you understand that it would be folly in any woman to marry a half-blind man who cannot see ten feet in front of him? don't you understand that in such a case the rôles would be entirely reversed, and that, instead of protecting his wife, as every man ought to do, M. Onésime will have to be protected by the woman who would be foolish enough to marry him?" "It seems to me only right that the person who is able to protect the other should do so." "Certainly; but this duty devolves upon the man." "Yes, when he is able to fulfil this duty; when he is not, it devolves upon the wife." "If she is foolish enough, I repeat, to accept such a life of self-sacrifice and weighty responsibility." "Foolish?" "Idiotic, rather. Don't look at me so indignantly." "Listen to me, father." "I am listening." "You have reared me with the utmost kindness and devotion; you have anticipated my every wish; you have surrounded me with every comfort; and for my sake you have exposed yourself to all the fatigue and discomfort of long business trips. Am I not right?" "It was not only a pleasure, but my duty to do these things for you, my dear child." "A duty?" "The most sacred of all duties." "To protect me--to be my guide and my support, you mean, do you not?" "Precisely. It is the duty of every parent."