"Because it is the one desire of my life to see you Mlle. Ramon's husband," answered the old man, firmly. "Mlle. Ramon's husband!" cried Louis, springing up with a movement of positive horror; "I marry that woman?" "Yes, my son. Marry Mlle. Ramon, and our future is assured. We will go to Dreux to live. The house is large enough for us all. Ramon will give his daughter no dowry, but we are to live with him, that is decided, and he will procure you a lucrative situation. When your father-in-law dies, you will come into a handsome fortune. Louis, my son, my beloved son," added the old man, imploringly, seizing his son's hands, "consent to this marriage, I beg of you. Consent to it, and you will make me the happiest of men." "Ah, father, you do not know what you are asking," replied Louis. "You are going to say that you do not love Mlle. Ramon, perhaps; but mutual respect and esteem are sufficient, and you can give both to Mlle. Ramon, for she deserves them. As for her father, the parsimony that shocked you so much at first, will seem less objectionable when you recollect that, after all, you are the person who will profit by it, eventually. Ramon is really a most estimable man. The one ambition of his life is to leave his daughter and the husband of her choice a handsome fortune; to attain this end, he keeps his expenses down as much as possible. Is this any crime, I should like to know? Come, Louis, my dear boy, answer me, give me a word of hope." "Father, much as it costs me to thwart your plans, what you ask is impossible," replied the young man, sadly. "Louis, can it be you that answers me in this way when I appeal to your love for me?" "In the first place, you would derive no personal advantage from this marriage. You are thinking only of my interest when you urge it upon me." "What! is it nothing to be able to live with Ramon without being obliged to spend a sou? For it is understood that we are to live there for nothing, I tell you, as he gives his daughter no dowry." "So long as I have a drop of blood in my veins, I will accept charity from no man, father. More than once already I have begged you to abandon your profession of scrivener, and let me supply our modest wants without any assistance from you. I can easily do it by working a little harder." "But if your health should fail, and old age should prevent me from earning a livelihood, there would be nothing left for me but to go to the almshouse." "I have faith in my courage. I shall not lose my health, and you will want for nothing; but, if I had to marry Mlle. Ramon, I should certainly die of grief and despair." "You are not in earnest, Louis?" "I certainly am, father. I feel, and I always shall feel, an unconquerable aversion to Mlle. Ramon; besides, I love a young girl, and she, and she alone, shall be my wife." "I fancied I had your confidence, and yet you have come to such an important decision as this without my even suspecting it."