“If Heaven did not appear to favor me so little, I would have a mass said for my happiness, which on that day will be buried.” “Mine was long since entombed, and I am not yet dead,” was the response of Marie. CHAPTER XLIV. On the eve of the day fixed for the marriage, Monsieur, Madame, and Mademoiselle Bonnaud, with their friends, Eusebe Martin, assisted by Lansade and Monsieur de la Varade, went to sign, in the official presence of Monflor, the notary, two important documents. The first was a contract of marriage; the second was a deed of partnership between Eusebe Martin and Isidore Boncain, manufacturer of chemicals, and successor of Bonnaud. Isidore Boncain brought to the firm of E. Martin & Co. his commercial information and experience. Eusebe brought the money which constituted the dowry of his wife. The notary read the two documents in a loud tone. Then Eusebe arose and said, “Will you add that I also bring into the partnership the sum of forty-eight thousand francs, which I now deposit in your hands?” Bonnaud and Lansade uttered an exclamation which could not be rendered by any known assemblage of letters. “What!” exclaimed the first: “the actress has, then, restored your money?” “Read!” said Eusebe, offering the astonished merchants a letter, the contents of which they immediately began to devour. The epistle ran as follows:-- “Eusebe:--You desired to purchase me; but I did not sell myself. I send you the forty-eight notes which you placed in my hands. I deposited the money at my banker’s. The interest has sufficed to defray your expenses. Allow me to retain the leather belt in which you used to carry the money, for my commissions. You will not return to your chestnut woods, and nowhere else could you have further use for this rustic purse. “Adieu, Eusebe, “ADÉONNE.” “Insolent creature!” muttered Bonnaud, and, turning to the notary, he added, in a whisper, “Will you put in an additional clause, to the effect that, in case of the decease of one of the parties, if there be no children born of their union, all the property shall go to the survivor?” CHAPTER XLV.