“Thechildcan’tbehisdaughter，“saidtheterrifiedheirs；“heisseventy-oneyearsold。“
“Whoeversheis，“remarkedMadameMassin，“she’llgiveusplentyoftintouin“awordpeculiartoNemours，meaninguneasiness，anxiety，ormoreliterally，tinglingintheears。
Thedoctorreceivedhisgreat-nieceonthemother’ssidesomewhatcoldly；herhusbandhadjustboughttheplaceofclerkofthecourt，andthepairbeganatoncetotellhimoftheirdifficulties。NeitherMassinnorhiswifewererich。Massin’sfather，alocksmithatMontargis，hadbeenobligedtocompromisewithhiscreditors，andwasnow，atsixty-sevenyearsofage，workinglikeayoungman，andhadnothingtoleavebehindhim。MadameMassin’sfather，Levrault-Minoret，hadjustdiedatMontereauafterthebattle，indespairatseeinghisfarmburned，hisfieldsruined，hiscattleslaughtered。
“We’llgetnothingoutofyourgreat-uncle，“saidMassintohiswife，nowpregnantwithhersecondchild，aftertheinterview。
Thedoctor，however，gavethemprivatelytenthousandfrancs，withwhichMassin，whowasagreatfriendofthenotaryandofthesheriff，beganthebusinessofmoney-lending，andcarriedmatterssobrisklywiththepeasantrythatbythetimeofwhichwearenowwritingGoupilknewhimtoholdatleasteightythousandfrancsontheirproperty。