"Did she tell you so?" "No, she wrote me to that effect, or rather she got some other person to do it for her." "What, she got some other person to write such a thing as that for her!" "You will sneer, perhaps, but the poor girl I love can neither read nor write." "How fortunate you are! You will at least escape such epistles as I have been receiving from a pretty little perfumer I took away from a rich but miserly old banker. I have been amusing myself by showing her a little of the world,--it is so pleasant to see people happy,--but I have not been able to improve her grammar, and such spelling! It is of the antediluvian type. Mother Eve must have written in much the same fashion. But if your Mariette can neither read nor write, how do you know but her secretary may have distorted the facts?" "With what object?" "I don't know, I am sure. But why don't you have an explanation with her? You will know exactly how you stand, then." "But she implored me, both for the sake of her peace of mind and her future, to make no attempt to see her again." "On the contrary, see her again, and at once, for the sake of her future, now you are a prospective millionaire." "You are right, Florestan, I will see her, and at once; and if this cruel mystery can be satisfactorily explained, if I find her as loving and devoted as in the past, I shall be the happiest man in the world. Poor child, her life up to this time has been one of toil and privation. She shall know rest and comfort now, for I cannot doubt that my father will consent. My God!" "What is the matter?" "All this has made me entirely forget something that will surprise you very much. My father insists that I shall marry your cousin." "What cousin?" "Mlle. Ramon. A short time ago I went to Dreux; in fact, I have just returned from there. I had not the slightest suspicion of my father's plans, when I first saw the young lady, but, even if I had not been in love with Mariette, your uncle's daughter impressed me so unfavourably that nothing in the world--" "So my uncle is not ruined, as he pretended he was several years ago," said Florestan, interrupting his friend. "No, evidently not, for if your father wishes you to marry my cousin, it is because he thinks such an alliance would be to your advantage. Doubtless my uncle's pretended failure was only a subterfuge." "My father resorted to the same expedient, I think, though he has always given me to understand that extreme poverty was the cause of the parsimonious manner in which we lived."