is father and
mother, richly set in gold. Eugenie promised to guard this box until he
returned.

For it was decided that Charles Grandet must go to the Indies to seek
his fortune. He sold his jewels and finery, and paid his personal debts
in Paris, and waited on at Saumur till the ship should be ready to sail
for Nantes.

And in those few weeks came the springtime of love for Eugenie.

Old Grandet was too busy to trouble about his nephew, who was so shortly
to be got rid of, and both Nanon and Mme. Grandet liked and pities the
young man.

Charles Grandet, on his side, was conscious that his Parisian friends
would not have shown him a like kindness, and the purity and truth of
Eugenie's love were something he had not hitherto experienced.

The cousins would snatch a few moments together in the early morning,
and once, only a few days before his departure, they met in the long,
dark passage at the foot of the staircase. "Dear cousin, I cannot expect
to return for many years," Charles said sadly. "We must not consider
ourselves bound in any way."

"You love me?" was all Eugenie asked. And on his reply, she added: "Then
I will wait for you, Charles."

Presently his arms were round her waist. Eugenie made no resistance,
and, pressed to his heart, received her lover's kiss.

"Dear Eugenie, a cousin is better than a brother; he can marry you,"
said Charles.

Thus the lovers vowed themselves to each other. Then came the terrible
hour of parting, and Charles Grandet sailed from Nantes for the Indies;
and the old house at Saumur suddenly seemed to Eugenie to have become
very empty and bare indeed.

_III.--M. Grandet's Discovery_

Grandet, on the advice of M. Cruchot, the notary, saved the honour of
his dead brother. There was no act of bankruptcy. M. Cruchot, to gain
favour with old Grandet, proposed to go to Paris to look after the dead
man's affairs, but suggested the payment of expenses. It was M. des
Grassins, however, who went to Paris, for he undertook to make no
charge; and the banker not only attended to Guillaume Grandet's
creditors, but stayed on in Paris--having been made a deputy--and fell
in love with an actress. Adolphe joined his father, and achieved an
equally unpleasant reputation.

The property of Guillaume Grandet realised enough money to pay the
creditors a dividend of 47 per cent. They agreed that they would
deposit, upon certain conditions, their bills with an accredited notary,
and each