little Mirouet, who possesses in her own right forty
thousand francs, to marry you, I will give you, as true as my name is
Minoret, the means to buy a notary's practice at Orleans."

"No," said Goupil, "that's too far out of the way; but Montargis--"

"No," said Minoret; "Sens."

"Very good,--Sens," replied the hideous clerk. "There's an archbishop at
Sens, and I don't object to devotion; a little hypocrisy and there
you are, on the way to fortune. Besides, the girl is pious, and she'll
succeed at Sens."

"It is to be fully understood," continued Minoret, "that I shall not pay
the money till you marry my cousin, for whom I wish to provide, out of
consideration for my deceased uncle."

"Why not for me too?" said Goupil maliciously, instantly suspecting a
secret motive in Minoret's conduct. "Isn't it through information you
got from me that you make twenty-four thousand a year from that land,
without a single enclosure, around the Chateau du Rouvre? The fields and
the mill the other side of the Loing make sixteen thousand more. Come,
old fellow, do you mean to play fair with me?"

"Yes."

"If I wanted to show my teeth I could coax Massin to buy the Rouvre
estate, park, gardens, preserves, and timber--"

"You'd better think twice before you do that," said Zelie, suddenly
intervening.

"If I choose," said Goupil, giving her a viperish look; "Massin would
buy the whole for two hundred thousand francs."

"Leave us, wife," said the colossus, taking Zelie by the arm, and
shoving her away; "I understand him. We have been so very busy," he
continued, returning to Goupil, "that we have had no time to think of
you; but I rely on your friendship to buy the Rouvre estate for me."

"It is a very ancient marquisate," said Goupil, maliciously; "which will
soon be worth in your hands fifty thousand francs a year; that means a
capital of more than two millions as money is now."

"My son could then marry the daughter of a marshal of France, or the
daughter of some old family whose influence would get him a fine place
under the government in Paris," said Minoret, opening his huge snuff-box
and offering a pinch to Goupil.

"Very good; but will you play fair?" cried Goupil, shaking his fingers.

Minoret pressed the clerk's hands replying:--

"On my word of honor."

CHAPTER XVII. THE MALIGNITY OF PROVINCIAL MINDS

Like all crafty persons, Goupil, fortunately for Minoret, believed that
the proposed marriage with Ursul