“Sobeit，“hereplied。“Butdon’tbeuneasy；youhavemoneyenoughofyourowntobenoburdeneithertoyourmotherorme。“
“MayIaskhowmuchIhave？“
“Certainly，mychild，“hesaid。“Yourgrandmotherleftyoufivehundredthousandfrancs；thiswastheamountofhersavings，forshewouldnotalienateafootoflandfromthefamily。ThissumhasbeenplacedinGovernmentstock，and，withtheaccumulatedinterest，nowbringsinaboutfortythousandfrancsayear。WiththisIhadpurposedmakinganindependenceforyoursecondbrother，anditisherethatyouhaveupsetmyplans。Later，however，itispossiblethatyoumayfallinwiththem。Itshallrestwithyourself，forIhaveconfidenceinyourgoodsensefarmorethanIhadexpected。
“IdonotneedtotellyouhowadaughteroftheChaulieusoughttobehave。Thepridesoplainlywritteninyourfeaturesismybestguarantee。Safeguards，suchascommonfolksurroundtheirdaughterswith，wouldbeaninsultinourfamily。Aslanderreflectingonyournamemightcostthelifeofthemanboldenoughtoutterit，orthelifeofoneofyourbrothers，ifbychancetherightshouldnotprevail。Nomoreonthissubject。Good-bye，littleone。“
Hekissedmeontheforeheadandwentout。Icannotunderstandtherelinquishmentofthisplanafternineyears’persistenceinit。Myfather’sfranknessiswhatIlike。Thereisnoambiguityabouthiswords。MymoneyoughttobelongtohisMarquisson。Who，then，hashadbowelsofmercy？Mymother？Myfather？Orcoulditbemybrother？