"That very evening the ruined nobleman entered his daughter's room, and,
with tears in his eyes, explained to her his terrible situation. She did
not hesitate a moment.

"'Above all,' she said to her father, 'let us save our honor, which
even your death would not restore. Count Claudieuse is cruel to forget
that he is thirty years older than I am. From this moment I hate and
despise him. Tell him I am willing to be his wife.'

"And when her father, overcome with grief, told her that the count would
never accept her hand in this form, she replied,--

"'Oh, do not trouble yourself about that! I shall do the thing
handsomely, and your friend shall have no right to complain. But I know
what I am worth; and you must remember hereafter, that, whatever service
he may render you, you owe him nothing.'

"Less than a fortnight after this scene, Genevieve had allowed the count
to perceive that he was not indifferent to her and a month later she
became his wife.

"The count, on his side, had acted with the utmost delicacy and tact;
so that no one suspected the cruel position of the Marquis de Tassar. He
had placed two hundred thousand francs in his hands to settle his most
pressing debts. In his marriage-contract he had acknowledged having
received with his wife a dower of the same amount; and finally, he had
bound himself to pay to his father-in-law and his wife an annual income
of ten thousand francs. This had absorbed more than half of all he
possessed."

M. Magloire no longer thought of protesting. Sitting stiffly on his
chair, his eyes wide open, like a man who asks himself whether he is
asleep or awake, he murmured,--

"That is incomprehensible! That is unheard of!"

Jacques was becoming gradually excited. He went on,--

"This is, at least, what the countess told me in her first hours of
enthusiasm. But she told it to me calmly, coldly, like a thing that was
perfectly natural. 'Certainly,' she said, 'Count Claudieuse has never
had to regret the bargain he made. If he has been generous, I have been
faithful. My father owes his life to him; but I have given him years of
happiness to which he was not entitled. If he has received no love, he
has had all the appearance of it, and an appearance far more pleasant
than the reality.'

"When I could not conceal my astonishment, she added, laughing
heartily,--

"'Only I brought to the bargain a mental reservation. I reserved to
myself the right to claim my share of earthl