d be covered with
dwellings.

"They offer two hundred and fifty thousand francs," he said; "but if you
consent to the sale, I can make them give you three hundred thousand.
There are three acres of land in the garden."

"My husband paid two hundred thousand for the place, therefore I
consent," she replied. "But you must reserve the furniture and the
mirrors."

"Ah!" said Solonet, "you are beginning to understand business."

"Alas! I must," she said, sighing.

"I am told that a great many persons are coming to your midnight
service," said Solonet, perceiving that his presence was inopportune,
and preparing to go.

Madame Evangelista accompanied him to the door of the last salon, and
there she said, in a low voice:--

"I now have personal property to the amount of two hundred and fifty
thousand francs; if I can get two hundred thousand for my share of the
house it will make a handsome capital, which I shall want to invest to
the very best advantage. I count on you for that. I shall probably live
at Lanstrac."

The young notary kissed his client's hand with a gesture of gratitude;
for the widow's tone of voice made Solonet fancy that this alliance,
really made from self-interest only, might extend a little farther.

"You can count on me," he replied. "I can find you investments in
merchandise on which you will risk nothing and make very considerable
profits."

"Adieu until to-morrow," she said; "you are to be our witness, you know,
with Monsieur le Marquis de Gyas."

"My dear mother," said Paul, when she returned to them, "why do you
refuse to come to Paris? Natalie is provoked with me, as if I were the
cause of your decision."

"I have thought it all over, my children, and I am sure that I should
hamper you. You would feel obliged to make me a third in all you did,
and young people have ideas of their own which I might, unintentionally,
thwart. Go to Paris. I do not wish to exercise over the Comtesse de
Manerville the gentle authority I have held over Natalie. I desire to
leave her wholly to you. Don't you see, Paul, that there are habits and
ways between us which must be broken up? My influence ought to yield to
yours. I want you to love me, and to believe that I have your interests
more at heart than you think for. Young husbands are, sooner or later,
jealous for the love of a wife for her mother. Perhaps they are right.
When you are thoroughly united, when love has blended your two souls
into one, then