Golden wedding E-Book

Max du Veuzit

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 315

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019

Beschreibung

Fragon's lieutenant, a young officer without fortune, overwhelmed by debt, resigned himself to contracting a very rich marriage. But the haste with which the fiancé is pressed raises certain suspicions in the young man's mind. Married, an invisible barrier seems to separate the groom from his wife Gilberte. Later, he learned "the hidden reason" that required the early conclusion of their union. Gilberte, in good faith, believed her husband was aware of her painful adventure. This one leaves, desperate. Will reconciliation be possible?

Leseprobe

Golden wedding

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Max du Veuzit

Golden wedding

I

At six o'clock the brush, a strapping the jet-black eyes, entered the locked room of Lieutenant Rudolph Butcher.

Painstakingly, he put in a chair the effects it had just shaken; Then he drew the curtains, opened the shutters, which slammed, and leaving the window wide open on the garden, he approached the bed:

- Lieutenant, six hours have sounded!

The young man was not asleep.

The thought numb, the body prostrate, the half-opened eye, he followed the movements of a soldier in a half sleep.

The loud voice of the latter pulled him from the torpor in which he stood still lazily.

He yawned and sat up with a start in his bed.

With a quick movement, he already threw away from him the covers, when suddenly thought sleeping since yesterday appeared, radiant, driving away from the brain the last mists of sleep.

It was like a uproar click, as sudden entry of a master in his lonely house that suddenly sounds of his coming.

And his gesture began remained unfinished, the covers remained tacked on suddenly locked its members.

The maddening question that he had fallen asleep, after having turned in every direction, stood imposingly insoluble again before him.

He repeated:

"We need, for tonight at midnight I found twenty-five thousand francs! "

Lieutenant Poor devil, having only his miserable life balance for this sum of twenty-five thousand francs was for him a fortune.

And foolishly, the day before, in a crazy night with friends, in a moment of intoxication caused by a better dinner than usual, he who, in his life, had never touched a card, played ...

Played and lost!

Lost word this fantastic sum in his eyes, that amount which he did not have the first farthing!

"Twenty-five thousand francs for tonight! "

Where to find them?

Who borrow?

Moreover, borrow, was it honest?

Never, even with plenty of time before him, even going without the necessary, he will never succeed in raising so much money.

One must have lived garrisons of life to understand the physical impossibility when it was considering a future repayment healthily.

At most, a loan, if he could do it, would not have helped him to gain time. It would have fallen too near maturity; but the young man would have to - as the saying goes - that better then jumped.

As for finding the other way, the money he needed, it was even more impossible. Everyone knows that the thousand-franc notes do not meet at the corners, such vulgar newspapers.

He was an orphan, no relatives, no rich family; who would have been interested enough in his distress to put such a sum at his disposal?

Nobody !

His honor, his very life could be at stake; no one was reached, no one had treatment to save one or the other.

Classmates ?

They were all very nice boys; but they, too, their hassles and expenses.

" And ! he repeated it, when indelicately played and lost a thing we do not have, something you know will be able to obtain, prevents honesty to appeal to comrades! "

Rudolph was, above all, a proud, he severely considering his case, but did not want others could make the same criticism:

"There are truths that can not confess and thoughtless acts which we are ashamed to let pierce lightness. "

So what ?

Somehow he should return, the same impossibilities stood:

"There is an exit to this impasse: death! "

He shivered.

At twenty-eight, there are no plans calmly suicide.

And yet it was the only solution for two days, was presented to his overexcited brain.

With a kind of wild delight, where despair joined to pride, already by the thought he had settled the tragic stage: time? midnight the suit ? his fancy dress; the decor ? his room that also served as his studio; tear ? the revolver; the place? the heart...

He wanted to die with a smile on the lips, calm brow, the haughty face of adversity, as it seemed that the son of his father had to die.

- Lieutenant, a letter!

Again, the southern voice of the soldier was startled.

- Rate.

His correspondence was rare, and the letters that reached her name few.

He took the envelope and looked like a curious thing.

The writing was unknown to him; the timbre of the little support post revealed nothing ...

Suddenly he started, and the amazement in his eyes.

A red wax stamp in his arms, sealed the mysterious missive.

- Ah!

For a moment he was speechless, eyes fixed on the little red disk.

This seal the upset!

It was like a familiar face smiling at him ... a face that was not his and in which, nevertheless, he would be recognized.

Who wrote it?

A parent ?

A parent with the same name as the same arms as he?

Despite his certainty of the moment before, so there was somewhere a family member knowing its existence and interested in him?

At this thought, he felt his heart expand.

It seemed to him that the letter was salvation, that parent, whoever he was, was going to be its liberator.

Taking pride of the same coat of arms, could he abandon in such a tragic circumstance?

Tears of relief unconsciously came to his eyes.

As he was gentle, that hope arose suddenly!

He opened the envelope with care not to break the blessed character.

And he read, first with surprise, then with joy, this curious missive:

"To Mr. Rodolphe Butcher,

"Flying Officer,

at Versailles. "

"My dear child,

"Since when young men well behaved they are abandoning their old relatives? Do you find yourself too rich friends or conditions you despise the only ally you have left?

"Your father, respectful family ties, sometimes led you to me. But your bet in college, removing these visits, the death of your parents, then the military, you have made forgetful and indifferent. The path traced by not paternal was never followed by you.

"I, in spite of your negligence, I still think the blond boy you were, this beautiful child who called me Aunt Sophie, although I may not be for you a distant cousin.

"Come see me, Rodolphe, I know the situation of your parents was not the most brilliant. You must be richer pride than ECU. I thought of you in a happy circumstance that arises. As much mine is a parent benefits rather than abroad.

"Come before too long, we will talk.

"Your old cousin,

Sophie Butcher

"Rue Saint-Dominique, 28a. "

Twice, he read this letter beneficent, not noticing the antiquated and bombastic terms.

Ah! he was happy!

What a wonderful resurrection after the slow death of the last forty-eight hours!

The good, excellent Aunt Sophie!

His intervention saved his honor and life.

" Certainly ! I'll go see it! And today, again! "

He tried to recall. In many years away does not remember it from her?

Aunt Sophie!

The name meant nothing to him anymore.

However, looking further into his memories, he seemed to remember a long, thin woman with cold eyes, the sharp voice, at which his father had sometimes led.

But it was vague and indecisive picture left him like a whiff of discomfort and embarrassment ...

He shook the unpleasant impression, trying to persuade himself that surely Aunt Sophie was not to be the person whose angled his memory unfaithful tried in vain to clarify the boundaries.

Moreover, it would soon be filled. The time to obtain the freedom of the day, and it would a jump to the rue Saint-Dominique in Paris.

Cheerfully, this time, the soul of much reassured, he jumped out of bed and dressed carefully.

Two hours after he took to Versailles to the station the train to Paris.

II

Aunt Sophie lived on the fourth floor - third above the mezzanine, said the concierge - a great and sad apartment house, whose dull and bare facade gave the cold print of an abandoned convent.

Acute yapping of a pug signaled the guests of this house off the lieutenant on the fourth floor.

To his shot discreet bell, the mistress of the house, itself, came open.

First, in the dark of the small vestibule, the young man a very long distinguished female figure, very thin and slightly stooped; but then, in the tiny room where she introduced him, after he declined his names and he saw better the old woman.

And right now, a little disappointed, he saw Sophie Butcher!

It was she, the ghost of his angular rebellious memory.

She, whose suspiciously, thin, cruel lips of the few teeth, the fugitive against the small gray eyes, thin hands, with long nails like claws, suddenly paralyzed the affectionate impulse that the young officer was proposing screws -a-vis its single parent.

For, strange to say, although the face of the old woman evoked for him no specific recollection, he had the sensation that his present discomfort was mostly made of old embarrassment, suddenly resurrected.

From the first minute, the impression caused by his old cousin was clearly unsympathetic. This impression was unfortunately only increase and justify later.

Through the horrible barking pooch, Rudolph Butcher tried to be heard. And, politely, making an effort to be kind:

- Forgive my long silence, madam; I had forgotten, or your person, at least your home. I am happy, and I thank you very much, that you kindly remind me of the one and the other.

She did not answer.

Remained standing and without concern for her embarrassment, she looked at strangely, the retailer head to foot, with a particular emphasis.

He lost a little composure, and it seemed that he was blushing under the small gray eyes inquisitors.

Around him, the Pug turned, grumpy and suspicious, do not contribute little to increase the discomfort of the young man.

Gladly, it would have given him a kick, to keep away from his bulky little person.

However, wanting to shake off the impression increasingly painful he felt, he asked:

- I bothering you at this hour, ma'am?

The woman gave a derisive chuckle and without responding to her words, she said, continuing aloud his idea:

- Abelard ... My word, I think I see Abelard!

Bewildered, not knowing if it was or not a compliment, he looked.

- Abelard was your great-uncle, she explained, and you look like him physically strikingly ... It was a very handsome man, I assure you! Unfortunately for you, you have neither his composure or his triumphant air.

Again she uttered her annoying laugh.

He thanked a hi surprised amenity of words and laughter, thinking to himself how his current situation he had little reason to boast.

And, despite himself, the fear returned.

Mentally, for the hundredth time, perhaps two days, he repeated:

"I must find twenty-five thousand francs before midnight or kill me ..."

No, of course, that thought was not to give him a winning air! But she earned her angelic patience vis-à-vis his interlocutor during that first interview.

However, the old woman, having silenced the noisy Kiki - that was the name of the little dog - had placed the officer and questioned.

She asked her questions suddenly, bluntly and without any discretion:

- How old are you now, my cousin?

His voice was dry as ... his lips as his air, as his whole person!

He answered :

- Twenty eight years old.

- You wear them well ... and not married, I think?

He smiles :

- Fortunately not !

She arched her eyebrows, curious:

- Why fortunately?

- Because I pity the unfortunate woman that would unite her fate with mine, my current position is more modest.

- It can become brilliant.

- Maybe ... Though, out of the ranks, I should not expect rapid progress without special circumstances.

- So why choose a military career?

- He deceived me. I was young, arrogant, inexperienced ... The prestige of the uniform! Perhaps I was afraid to strip in a struggle for life. The army was the only door that was opened widely for a man of my character, without special knowledge ... without resources, especially!

- What do you mean ?

- A Spanish proverb says that a poor gentleman has only three roads before him: the church, the army or the sea I chose the army.!

- But why be entered by the hard way?

- I was eighteen years old when my father died. With him was extinguished the pension which, until then, had enabled him to meet our mutual needs ... From the fortune of my poor mother, there was nothing; so I had to leave my studies at the same time, received at Polytechnic, I was about to finish brilliantly.

- So what ?

- I am committed ... not starve ... Today, I realize that in private industry or trade, I could have come to me to create a higher paid position. ..

A short silence followed these explanations as briefly as possible by the officer.

The old woman was rolling between his fingers after a woolen scarf thrown over her thin shoulders, and, from the corner of her eye, she stared slyly its parent.

Suddenly his sharp laugh, almost angry, rang again in the room:

- So, by your own admission, cousin, your future is far from being brilliant?

A sudden flush flushed face of Lieutenant.

It really was too clumsily to ask questions!

Yet he still overpowered his bad mood.

- I am a modest worker! he said, with a sort of fierce pride. So far I have lived heedless of the future. I had faith in me! There is - and, so saying, he struck his forehead, - there are serious problems to solve, solved soon, even! that will ensure, I hope, honorable and envied.

The piercing eyes of his interlocutor suddenly lit up.

She craned her neck to her:

- Work ... an invention? She asked, eagerly.

- Yes, an invention even more ...! And sensational, again!

He was referring to air navigation, he had to develop in a direction that has since yielded such brilliant results.

A flash of pride had spent in the eyes discolored Sophie Butcher. Above all, this woman had the cult of race and everything in it vibrated at the thought that a male descendant of the illustrious ancestors she boasted could restore the luster to the family name - formerly known and famous, - now forgotten, overwhelmed by the invading flood commoners names featured flying from mouth to mouth, without knowing much just what particular merit put them in relief.

For a moment the eyes moved to the old woman wrapped the young man.

Was it possible that he was able to invent something? Was he really the soul of a creator can achieve fame and perhaps earn heaps of gold? In the post-war time, money alone seems devote glory and Sophie Butcher had dazzled before the vertigo of such an assumption.

His lips trembled, seeming to mumble a prayer ... thanksgiving, perhaps, to glimpse the future!

Rudolph Butcher, however, had taken his overwhelmed air. Before the ill-disguised misery of the apartment where he was, he dared not see her old cousin liberating he had hoped to get by.

In crowds, all her worries came back, and now he wanted to be alone, out of this discouraging home, away from this hostile woman who laughed in a way so unpleasant.

But Aunt Sophie, from his reverie, deign to look at him again.

- To invent something, 'she said suddenly, to launch an invention, above all, it takes money ... lots of money! And, if I understand correctly, you are richer illusions that ECU.

The figure of the officer darkens again:

- Alas!

- No doubt you have glimpsed a way to get you?

In his head, he shook his head.

The question put to his soul alive!

And then, not stopping at the odd flash of eyes staring at him, obeying a strange force that drove him to scream his distress to a human being, without considering the poor outcome that would result, certainly, its secrets he said just the old woman: his minute of madness, the insane challenge, his desperate situation, the deadlock where he was cornered.

She listened carefully breath outstanding, forehead crossed a hardness ply; Yet the thin lips, a fleeting smile seemed to be emerging. It seemed that the old lady was annoyed by the modest position of Rudolph, along with joyous of his financial embarrassment.

What dark project she continued thus about the young man?

Head down, hug the soul, it does nevertheless continued his story: it was his only chance, and he was trying the last effort he felt even capable of!

In advance only had he not sentenced to death? A disillusionment hardly counted more ...

However, as he spoke of suicide, the old gasped, face flushed in sudden threat that the piercing: the extinct race, through the fault of this young fool!

Ah! It would be nice to see that she should leave him accomplish this supreme folly!

- Kill you ? And what right, unhappy child? if she cried, trembling.

He looked up and simply explained:

- I have only my life to give to my creditor! Shame...

But she interrupted abruptly:

- Shame, sir, would be to leave behind this outstanding debt, so that a man could boast of being forever the creditor of a Butcher.

He got a little pale, with mechanically aggressive movement as if it had been a man before him:

- Ah! I defend well ...

The laughter of the old cut again his sentence. He saw the ridiculousness of his combative attitude, made a gesture of apology, and sat down, overwhelmed, as she grinned suddenly:

- You are defending? Really ! But when you die, who will therefore respect your defense and stop people from dirtying your name and suspect to the good intentions of your last act, which may be assigned all the reasons ... most especially shameful? So that your suicide will not be what you want it to be: a repair of honor; but become, through all mouths, a desperate act of infamy in line.

He looked bewildered.

With what she was stunning refinement, the woman to whom he had come, full of confidence, shouting his miserable distress! She had not even had to soften his sentence, a word of pity and comfort!

He suddenly felt for her feelings of hatred; and nasty words went to her lips, which, fortunately for his human dignity, remained fiercely closed.

Sophie Butcher, however, continued, despite this latent hostility suddenly she read in the eyes of the officer:

- Die ? No, my cousin, you do not have the right. More the situation is desperate, the more you need to bite the bullet and try to cope. At your age, we fight against adversity and it is a glory to overcome bad luck. Finally, it is not just a position of any rest: we must have the ambition to pursue a goal that is worth the harm we give ourselves to reach it. You are poor, well, your efforts must tend to be rich ... money, you see, gives all powers and all the joys. Be your time, Rudolph, and, like the others, are you a god of the golden calf ... Ah! Yes ! be rich and pass on to your son, with keynote heritage that represents your family the possibility of holding the rank to which they are entitled. But do not talk of dying. You are the last of your race and your life is not yours. How could you forget and leave a little wife to remind you?

Excited by his own words, she had stood, eyes shining, fiery voice, putting his whole soul into his protest.

Despite the aversion inspired her cousin, Rodolphe felt for her at that moment, a kind of admiration. His fanaticism was something respectable that impressed deep within himself.

So it was sadly, rather than bad mood, he replied:

- I already told me everything you expose me, and I assure you that this is my greatest torture of failing in the task that life imposes on every man. Unfortunately, the situation I have outlined to you is hopeless; I am no longer master of events that my great regret I raging around me so awkwardly.

- The situation is hopeless, you say?

- Alas!

- But if I showed you a way out of this impasse ...?

- You?

- Yes, me.

- But how ?

- I can give you a way to pay your debt on time.

- Oh ! if you did that ...

He did not finish, emotion cutting him.

In one breath, hope came back again ...

And as he was very right, very honest, very spontaneous too, his feelings faced about with regard to his cousin and he wanted the evil thoughts he had had for her just now.

In anticipation, he would talk to her gratitude, recognition, all these things which his heart was now full; she did not give him time:

- Do not thank me, Rodolphe; it's less for you and our ancestors that I will act. At the bottom of the grave, they should not be ashamed of our decadence ... Your secrets are nothing to do with the goal that I am pursuing. In principal you near me, I did not know your true situation and yet already I had a plan for your future and the brilliance that I want to give it. The best proof of recognition that you can mark me is not to raise objections against unbearable my projects!

The harsh tone of his interlocutor not darkened the young officer. The star of hope that let him see the lyrics too shone in him to distinguish him dry voice that uttered them.

- I'm listening, he said only.

- First, she replied, have you seriously considered marrying you, Rodolphe?

There was a slight start of surprise.

- No never ! I believe I told you that my resources did not allow me that luxury.

- However, the marriage of thought is repugnant not you, and if you did not have this material existence sake, you would stop without displeasure at the idea of ​​starting a family?

- Obviously, a home for themselves, children who perpetuate you ... every man has dreamed that!

- Well, it's up to you to realize this dream.

As he was about to protest, she stopped him with a hand gesture.

- No, I do not object your lack of fortune. The girl that I want to propose is rich ... very rich!

He smiles :

- So it can not accept for a modest officer husband like me!

- You are wrong. First, his wealth allows him to marry the man who pleases him, and I'm sure you'll be the man ... I'm sure! Then...

She hesitated; then, searching for words, added:

- In principle, she accepts the marriage.

- But she knows me so, that girl! if he cried, surprised.

- I told him about you ... a lot.

- And that was enough? he said, stunned.

- Yes ... all that was told to you ... your repute, your youth ... then his romantic character ... magnet! Finally, guardian - she is an orphan - took information about you ... we have caused ... likes you! In short, it's up to you to be the lucky one.

He passed his hand over his burning forehead where ideas clashed in chaos.

- I am bewildered by your proposal, he said after a pause. But, assuming that I really likes this girl, there is no evidence that there is reciprocity, and it is the woman I would ever see my side. She answers only to the ideal that I got from that which would share my life?

Sophie Butcher gave an amused chuckle.

- The soul mate, what!

- Yes, he said gravely, that we love, that we respect and which one puts all his trust!

She shrugged with a kind of pity.

- Child ... You forget that my protected is rich ... fabulously rich.

- A silver wedding! He protested, while a grimace of contempt stretched his lips.

But patiently corrected her:

- A marriage of convenience, of the same inclination as it allows you to perform all your ambitions and your dreams. Consider that this marriage, taking you from your predicament, you will at the same time to rebuild your home, to live according to your rank, according to your tastes; Finally, continue your research to develop your invention ... in short, to become someone.

Speaking, she scrutinized the face of the young officer to try to guess his feelings. In the tense and serious expression on his face, she realized that his arguments had worn, and only, pride, dignity, pride, shut his mouth for acquiescence.

Yet the downside of this silver wedding appeared still to Rudolph.

- I see very well that I would withdraw the benefits of this union, he said, thoughtfully, after some thought, but I distinguish those less likely that the girl would find it.

- You forget that she would become Mrs. Rudolph Butcher.

He bit his lip and sudden redness rushed her pale face.

- Yes, it's true ! It is to sell my name.

The old was a movement of impatience.

- To share only with a wealthy woman who will give him the brilliance which he is entitled. You are ridiculous use of such words. Today, marrying for money is accepted everywhere.

The lieutenant had risen, and, striding, pacing the narrow space between the packed furniture along the walls.

- She is the daughter of some rich profiteer? he said, stopping suddenly in front of Aunt Sophie.

- No.

- So ! The child of a woman ...?

But she did not let him finish:

- Stop! This is a girl of our world. His name figures prominently in the armorial.

It was forbidden.

- I understand less and less! She is very ugly?

- You be the judge.

- Crippled, perhaps?

She laughed, and ironically:

- Yes, it has a wooden head!

Then, becoming serious, she said, persuasively:

- Come, my poor child, do not torture yourself so the brain to find defects that do not exist. So you do not feel how much I worship the past and the pride of the name I fiercely interviews in myself? How can you assume, you, the current head of our house, I would recommend a marriage that could render you ridiculous?

He was convinced.

More than anything she had said so far, his vehement protest annihilated its resistance inclinations.

She realized his triumph, and, beating the iron while it was hot, asked:

- Well, I may say a word of your intentions to the family?

It reared up, do not surrendering.

- Oh ! no no ! Please, not so fast!

- You forget what you need to find before dark, she replied coldly.

- You put my knife to his throat!

- Your procrastination are extraordinary. Yes or no, do you agree? You deserve that I abandon you to your fate.

- Do not get mad ! if he cried with distress. I am in complete disarray ... This is the happiness of my whole life, that devil!

- This is the same in your life, because if this marriage is not done, there will be that suicide as supreme argument.

- And how a marriage he assure me that night, the amount that I am missing?

- Do not worry about it. The question for you is too difficult to unravel ... I supported. Provided you are the husband of the girl, all will be well.

- But I can not be so, suddenly, her fiancé ...

- You can become the night before.

His confidence impressed the officer and he dared replicate anything.

- Come on, you decided this time?

A glimmer of panic crossed the eyes of the young man.

- Oh ! this impasse! if he cried. Do not pay this debt and be disgraced! Marry this woman and despise me; kill me and knowingly leave my dirty name, my race disappear!

- Precisely, the three evils you choose the lesser. Moreover, there is no evidence that you will not become madly in love with your wife, and that this marriage, started in business, will not end in romance.

- God willing!

It was a defeated cry. It finally definitively made to the arguments of its parent.

She raised her arms to heaven as to take it to witness the patience she had to deploy vis-à-vis Rudolph.

- Finally, here you are right! I was sure that you would end up being my opinion. Unless foolish, no volunteer refuses a fortune of nine million.

- Nine million!

There was nothing to be mad with joy the calmest of men and yet this figure, great for him, which had nothing, it was rather afraid, and felt a heavy, very heavy burden .

As he stood petrified in his place, so absorbed in thought that he forgot the presence of his old cousin, it recalled him to reality.

- It's noon, Rodolphe. Go to lunch! I do not offer to share my meal ... it is too skinny and I am only to serve him. Besides, she added, I must take care of you and see M. of cockle quickly.

- Mr. the cockle? he asked mechanically.

- Yes, it is the guardian of your fiancée.

She already said "his fiancee," and he did not protest. Aunt Sophie was leading the event with such rapidity that he no longer thought of resisting him.

- Come back at five, I will have something new.

And without further delay its accession, without listening to his weak protests, she pushed him toward the exit and closed the door behind him, all so quickly he found himself on the stairs without realizing it.

- In earlier.

Through the closed door, and while he rearranged his holding that a little abrupt exit was disturbed, he thought he heard the shrill laugh of the old woman suddenly sounded.

And, worried, thinking distraught, not knowing what to resolve, he went into the street straight ahead, at random.

III

- Excuse me, sir ... That's about it at Miss Fragon you ride?

At the polite voice of the concierge, Rudolph turned:

- Yes.

- So it's not worth it! She is not there.

- She is not there ? asked the young man, surprised. But she will return, no doubt; she knows I'm coming.

- Lady ... it has been obliged to leave, probably!. Only she left me a letter to give to Mr. Officer.

- Ah! good!

- It is likely that Mr. will know more long ... when it's read.

The woman went into her dressing room while in Holly, throat tight as involuntary disappointment, came down the few steps he had already climbed.

- Here, sir, here!

And the concierge returned on his door, handed him a sealed envelope.

- Thank you...

- Good bye, sir.

Rudolph bowed and left.

In the street only, he read the little word "Aunt Sophie," and immediately he breathed more easily:

"Come pick me up at eight, said her parent. We'll go to your bride. Look after your toilet, because you will be presented officially to the girl.

" Do not worry ; everything is fine.

"Sophie Butcher. "

- Everything is fine !

Long time he repeated the three words that made him good without completely reassuring. They lent all possible interpretations, but its assumptions not satisfy his curiosity, and he regretted that his relative would have given it more details.

What had she done since noon? What were his efforts, his explanations to the tutor, guardian since there were?

Now after internal revolts his thinking was getting used to the savior wedding plans, he was eager to learn about this unknown woman who wanted him to share his mysterious future.

A pinched anguish at the thought that it might be him unsympathetic, but firmly, whatever desperate his situation, he was determined, in this case, to accept anything rather than getting links to it repugnant. This lightweight pact he made with the events somewhat rehabilitated in his eyes.

"If I like it, it will not marry for money ..."

However, he felt that his inner self had suffered a moral defeat. Without knowing a woman, he was getting used to the idea of ​​marrying her, just because she had millions, and he said he would have been very nice to think differently.

At eight, he returned to his old cousin. Meanwhile, using a taxi that transported him to his home in Versailles, he had made a careful toilet and exchanged his military uniform against an impeccable black suit.

When Sophie Butcher saw him come home, she did not conceal his joy.

- Well and good, Rudolph, you're right!

It was a pitiful smile.

- Accuracy forced those who are no longer masters of their destiny.

- Come, come, do not ask you as a victim, my friend. You, on the contrary, every opportunity. Providence is truly for you in this case.

- So much the better, he said, any difficulty would still seemed too great an obstacle in the state of mind where I am.

- The main thing is you're finally decided that marriage was the cousin practice. I saw Mr. sometimes the cockle; things are arranged with him and you can consider yourself registered.

- Very flattered!

She shrugged before the mine sorry he showed.

- Exit this mournful air, she said with a laugh, this is not a funeral as we go.

- If, 'said he, seriously, let's bury this evening, all the good opinion I had of myself.

- Bah! the convoy will be first class, and there will be so many flowers and spread wealth, you would be ungracious not to rejoice.

He did not answer. Its parent did not seem to understand the intimate revolt that raised him.

They took a car that, in the bright night of Parisian streets, carried them to the avenue of Jena, where lived the cockle.

For some time, a question nagged Rudolph, who hesitated to ask.

He decided it a fleeting color temples:

- Did you know the tutor to your friend my money difficulties?

- No ! She said. It was useless; I want, however, you enter up front in this family.

- I love it so much; but...

He stopped, horribly embarrassed to continue.

The old had understood.

- Do not worry about your debt, Rudolph. The twenty-five thousand francs which you must be paid on time.

- And how ? He insisted.

- A friend of mine puts the money at my disposal. It requires only two things.

- Which?

- Whether fiance tonight Gilberte of cockle. The other condition is the future refund.

- So what ?

- It gives you six weeks to pay.

- Six weeks. This is ridiculous!

- No, by then, you can be married.

- Come on!

- With the address and a bride just waiting to love you, it would be foolish, my dear, to undergo a long engagement. Your eagerness can only be flattering, however.

He was silent; all this monetary issue gave him nausea. Oh ! have put in the need to discuss such a messy affair! What slump in his own esteem! ...

A silence fell between them. Suddenly Sophie Butcher asked:

- Have you thought about the ring?

- What ring?

- The ring engagement of Fragon. You must have among your mother's jewelry.

- Indeed ; but I have not thought it might be useful today.

- Starling!

- Bah! if marriage should be, there will be time to get out the ring box.

Heedless of this detail to which he attached little importance, it does little worried; but the old woman insisted that no man might not miss the success of the business so eagerly prepared.

- At all ! if she exclaimed. Do not procrastinate. Because tonight we present you officially Gilberte requires that you stated your fiance links ... the ring is given and accepted on both sides, with a commitment of honor.

- But since it's impossible! I do not have it.

- Fortunately, I planned your forgetfulness ... Look, she said, passing a tiny casket, here the ring of my mother; it should look substantially to that you own, your great-grandfather and my grandfather being the two brothers.

He wanted to reject the precious gift of all.

- I can not accept you in relinquish, cousin.

-. If I have no children to whom to bequeath, I would be happy to see the finger of one that will perpetuate our lineage. Take it, Rudolph, you will make me happy.

- Thank you, he said simply.

He pressed the spring of the case and a gold circle on which a figure in blue enamel and a tiny diamond crown stood, appeared wonderful finesse on white satin background.

Rodolphe examined the ring with emotion.

- Yes, it's the same, he whispered. My father pulled a similar finger of my mother who had just died.

"For that to be my daughter later, he said, looking at me, eyes full of tears. May she have the same virtues as the admirable companion of my life who just left! "

The young man closed the case abruptly, and slipped it into the inside pocket of his coat.

The sight of this ring, reviving an unforgettable scene of his childhood, upset him in his innermost fibers.

By an association of ideas very natural in the circumstances, he thought of what had been the engagement of her parents, so enamored of each other, what would have normally have been his, to they would actually be ...

And acute pain twisted his heart and his face twitched.

Yet a bitter satisfaction came to him to say that, by a happy coincidence, the sacred ring of his mother does not appear in this wicked parody of love marriage.

He was abruptly dismissed in the dark corner of the car, so absorbed in his painful reflections, Sophie Butcher had to touch her arm to pull him from his torpor.

- We arrived Rudolph.

Silently, he jumped onto the asphalt pavement and reached the old woman entangled in the lace of her ancient coat.

- We are finally at the threshold of fortune, he she whispered in his ear, as a thank you.

He did not answer.

Frowning, he looked at the house where his destiny was going to play.

IV

With a quick glance of Butcher had examined a large stone paved courtyard and a high golden gate separated from the street.

The wide steps of white marble, heavy openwork canopy, forged lanterns, severe luxury displayed on entry, seemed welcome haughtily modest visitors. The lieutenant was again the overwhelming impression of wealth too big to undergo. His humble quarters of nobility is terrified millions they were offered.