"That will be monseigneur," said Marcel, taking a light, and he ran to open the door, leaving his guest divided between fear and hope. Marcel soon returned; he was alone, but he held a small roll which he placed on the table before Chaudoreille, and presented him with a paper on which somebody had written two lines in pencil, saying,-- "Here is what monseigneur has sent you; read it!" Chaudoreille could not believe his eyes, he looked in turn at the roll, at the paper, and at Marcel. "Why don't you read it," said the latter to him. Finally, he took the paper with a trembling hand, and read: "I have seen her; you have surpassed my hopes and I double the promised recompense." "O my God, Marcel! he's doubled the hundred pistoles." "Then that makes two hundred; that is to say, that there is, in that roll, two thousand livres tournois in gold." "Two thousand livres!" "Well, what's the matter with you now?" "Marcel, give me a little vinegar, I beg of you. I don't feel very well." "It seems to me that a present like that should make you feel very well. Wait, drink a drop of brandy, that will put you in good shape." Chaudoreille, a little restored by the liquor, opened the roll, and the sight of the pieces of gold which it held deprived him for some moments of the faculty of speech. Finally, he murmured, in a voice faint with emotion,-- "Marcel, all this belongs to me." "I know it, all right." "And then, there's this purse still; and these six crowns which I had left--" "Yes, from the game of piquet, yesterday." "And I am rich! Oh, it produces a terrible effect, my poor fellow, to pass all of a sudden from poverty to opulence. Alas! I shall suffocate!" "Drink a little more. My faith! if good fortune produces such an effect, I'd rather remain without a sou and breathe freely." "O Marcel, you're very stupid, my boy!" "I don't know at this moment which is the stupider of us two." "Two thousand livres! Who would believe that one could thus hold his fortune in the palm of his hand." "Hang it! one should hold it there as long as he can." "Marcel, do you know of any property for sale in the neighborhood?" "No, why do you ask that?"