"You are right, Olivier," exclaimed the veteran. "You ought to see the young lady before you refuse, M. Gerald, and perhaps, as Olivier says, the desire to marry may seize you." "Impossible, commander!" cried Gerald, gaily. "One is born a husband as one is born a poet or a cripple, and then there is another objection,--the most important of all,--that occurs to me now. It is that the young lady in question is the richest heiress in France." "And what of that?" urged Olivier. "What difference does that make?" "It makes a great deal of difference," replied Gerald, "for even if I was obliged to admit that Mlle. de Beaumesnil pleased me infinitely,--that I was dead in love with her, in fact, and that she shared my love,--the fact remains that she is the possessor of a princely fortune, while I have nothing; for my paltry twelve thousand a year would be but a drop in the ocean of Mlle. de Beaumesnil's millions. It would be too humiliating to a man's pride, would it not, commander, to marry a woman to whom you can give nothing, but who gives you everything? Besides, however sincere your love may be, don't you have the appearance of marrying for mercenary motives? Don't you know that everybody would say: 'Mlle. de Beaumesnil wanted to be a duchess. Gerald de Senneterre hadn't a penny, so he sold her his name and title, and threw himself in.'" On hearing these words, the uncle glanced at his nephew with a decidedly embarrassed air. CHAPTER XXVI. THE COMMANDER'S ADVICE. Gerald did not fail to notice this fact, and it was with a smile that he exclaimed: "Yes, I was sure of it, commander. There is something so humiliating to an honest man's pride in such a glaring inequality of fortune that you are as unpleasantly impressed by it as I am. Your silence proves that conclusively." "The fact is," replied the veteran, after a moment's silence,--"the fact is, I really can't explain why such a state of things would appear perfectly natural and right to me if it was the man who possessed the fortune, and the lady had nothing." Then the old officer added, with a good-natured smile: "You think me a great simpleton, I expect, M. Gerald." "Quite the contrary. Your thought owes its origin to the most profound delicacy of feeling, commander," answered Gerald. "It is the most natural thing in the world that a penniless, but charming young girl, accomplished and endowed with noble attributes of mind and heart, should marry an immensely rich man,--if their love be mutual,--but for a man who has nothing, to marry a woman who has everything--" "Ah, uncle, and you, too, Gerald," exclaimed Olivier, interrupting his friend, "you are both entirely wrong about this matter." "And why, if you please?" "You admit, and so do I, that a penniless young girl is quite justified in marrying an immensely rich man, but this is only on condition that she loves the man sincerely."