one day to urge this
marriage, in order to put an end to gossip, and how the young girl had
seemed greatly surprised, saying that neither she nor the doctor had
thought of it, but that, notwithstanding, they would get married later
on, if necessary, for there was no hurry.

"Get married; I am quite willing!" cried Clotilde. "You are right,
grandmother."

And turning to Pascal:

"You have told me a hundred times that you would do whatever I wished.
Marry me; do you hear? I will be your wife, and I will stay here. A wife
does not leave her husband."

But he answered only by a gesture, as if he feared that his voice
would betray him, and that he should accept, in a cry of gratitude, the
eternal bond which she had proposed to him. His gesture might signify a
hesitation, a refusal. What was the good of this marriage _in extremis_,
when everything was falling to pieces?

"Those are very fine sentiments, no doubt," returned Felicite. "You have
settled it all in your own little head. But marriage will not give you
an income; and, meantime, you are a great expense to him; you are the
heaviest of his burdens."

The effect which these words had upon Clotilde was extraordinary. She
turned violently to Pascal, her cheeks crimson, her eyes filled with
tears.

"Master, master! is what grandmother has just said true? Has it come to
this, that you regret the money I cost you here?"

Pascal grew still paler; he remained motionless, in an attitude of utter
dejection. But in a far-away voice, as if he were talking to himself, he
murmured:

"I have so much work to do! I should like to go over my envelopes, my
manuscripts, my notes, and complete the work of my life. If I were
alone perhaps I might be able to arrange everything. I would sell La
Souleiade, oh! for a crust of bread, for it is not worth much. I should
shut myself and my papers in a little room. I should work from morning
till night, and I should try not to be too unhappy."

But he avoided her glance; and, agitated as she was, these painful and
stammering utterances were not calculated to satisfy her. She grew every
moment more and more terrified, for she felt that the irrevocable word
was about to be spoken.

"Look at me, master, look me in the face. And I conjure you, be brave,
choose between your work and me, since you say, it seems, that you send
me away that you may work the better."

The moment for the heroic falsehood had come. He lifted his head and
looke