ay that I have otherwise disposed of Cecile's hand, and
that will cut short all preposterous pretensions like that of Antonin
Goulard. Little Vinet may offer himself, and he is preferable to the
others who are smelling after the _dot_; he has talent, and shrewdness,
and he belongs to the Chargeboeufs by his mother; but he has too much
character not to rule his wife, and he is young enough to make himself
loved. You would perish between two sentiments--for I know you by heart,
my child."

"I shall be much embarrassed this evening at the Marions' to know what
to say," remarked Severine.

"Well, then, my dear," said her father, "send Madame Marion to me; I'll
talk to her."

"I knew, father, that you were thinking of our future, but I had no idea
you expected it to be so brilliant," said Madame Beauvisage, taking the
hands of the old man and kissing them.

"I have pondered the matter so deeply," said Grevin, "that in 1831 I
bought the Beauseant mansion in Paris, which you have probably seen."

Madame de Beauvisage made a movement of surprise on hearing this secret,
until then so carefully kept, but she did not interrupt her father.

"It will be my wedding present," he went on. "In 1832 I let it for seven
years to an Englishman for twenty-four thousand francs a year,--a pretty
stroke of business; for it only cost me three hundred and twenty-five
thousand francs, of which I thus recover nearly two hundred thousand.
The lease ends in July of this year."

Severine kissed her father on the forehead and on both cheeks. This last
revelation so magnified her future that she was well-nigh dazzled.

"I shall advise my father," she said to herself, as she recrossed
the bridge, "to give only the reversion of that property to his
grandchildren, and let me have the life-interest in it. I have no idea
of letting my daughter and son-in-law turn me out of doors; they must
live with me."

At dessert, when the two women-servants were safely at their own
dinner in the kitchen, and Madame Beauvisage was certain of not being
overheard, she thought it advisable to give Cecile a little lecture.

"My daughter," she said, "behave this evening with propriety, like a
well-bred girl; and from this day forth be more sedate. Do not chatter
heedlessly, and never walk alone with Monsieur Giguet, or Monsieur
Olivier Vinet, or the sub-prefect, or Monsieur Martener,--in fact, with
any one, not even Achille Pigoult. You will not marry any of the you