fresh obstacles
to her marriage. Savinien's distress in seeing her thus reduced did her
so much harm that she whispered to him, as they came from mass on the
morning on the day when she first went to live in her new house:

"Love could not exist without patience; let us wait."

As soon as the form of the inventory was drawn up, Massin, advised by
Goupil (who turned to him under the influence of his secret hatred to
the post master), summoned Monsieur and Madame de Portenduere to pay off
the mortgage which had now elapsed, together with the interest accruing
thereon. The old lady was bewildered at a summons to pay one hundred
and twenty-nine thousand five hundred and seventeen francs within
twenty-four hours under pain of execution on her house. It was
impossible for her to borrow the money. Savinien went to Fontainebleau
to consult a lawyer.

"You are dealing with a bad set of people who will not compromise," was
the lawyer's opinion. "They intend to sue in the matter and get your
farm at Bordieres. The best way for you would be to make a voluntary
sale of it and so escape costs."

This dreadful news broke down the old lady. Her son very gently
pointed out to her that had she consented to his marriage in Minoret's
life-time, the doctor would have left his property to Ursula's husband
and they would to-day have been opulent instead of being, as they now
were, in the depths of poverty. Though said without reproach, this
argument annihilated the poor woman even more than the thought of
her coming ejectment. When Ursula heard of this catastrophe she was
stupefied with grief, having scarcely recovered from her fever, and the
blow which the heirs had already dealt her. To love and be unable to
succor the man she loves,--that is one of the most dreadful of all
sufferings to the soul of a noble and sensitive woman.

"I wished to buy my uncle's house," she said, "now I will buy your
mother's."

"Can you?" said Savinien. "You are a minor, and you cannot sell out your
Funds without formalities to which the procureur du roi, now your legal
guardian, would not agree. We shall not resist. The whole town will be
glad to see the discomfiture of a noble family. These bourgeois are like
hounds after a quarry. Fortunately, I still have ten thousand francs
left, on which I can support my mother till this deplorable matter is
settled. Besides, the inventory of your godfather's property is not yet
finished; Monsieur Bongrand still thi