d pleasures of the heart,
enjoyments of the soul, that were far beyond millions. Together we
made out the account of what was due to the Bourgneufs, and I condemned
myself, against Madame Firmiani's advice, to pay three per cent
interest. But all I had did not suffice to cover the full amount. We
were lovers enough for her to offer, and me to accept, her savings--"

"What! besides her other virtues does that adorable woman lay by money?"
cried his uncle.

"Don't laugh at her, uncle; her position has obliged her to be very
careful. Her husband went to Greece in 1820 and died there three years
later. It has been impossible, up to the present time, to get legal
proofs of his death, or obtain the will which he made leaving his whole
property to his wife. These papers were either lost or stolen, or have
gone astray during the troubles in Greece,--a country where registers
are not kept as they are in France, and where we have no consul.
Uncertain whether she might not be forced to give up her fortune,
she has lived with the utmost prudence. As for me, I wish to acquire
property which shall be _mine_, so as to provide for my wife in case she
is forced to lose hers."

"But why didn't you tell me all this? My dear nephew, you might have
known that I love you enough to pay all your good debts, the debts of a
gentleman. I'll play the traditional uncle now, and revenge myself!"

"Ah! uncle, I know your vengeance! but let me get rich by my own
industry. If you want to do me a real service, make me an allowance of
two or three thousand francs a year, till I see my way to an enterprise
for which I shall want capital. At this moment I am so happy that all
I desire is just the means of living. I give lessons so that I may not
live at the cost of _any one_. If you only knew the happiness I had in
making that restitution! I found the Bourgneufs, after a good deal of
trouble, living miserably and in need of everything. The old father was
a lottery agent; the two daughters kept his books and took care of the
house; the mother was always ill. The daughters are charming girls, but
they have been cruelly taught that the world thinks little of beauty
without money. What a scene it was! I entered their house the accomplice
in a crime; I left it an honest man, who had purged his father's memory.
Uncle, I don't judge him; there is such excitement, such passion in a
lawsuit that even an honorable man may be led astray by them. Lawyers
can make