My dear Wife,--Charles Grandet has returned from the Indies and
has been in Paris about a month--

"A month!" thought Eugenie, her hand falling to her side. After a pause
she resumed the letter,--

I had to dance attendance before I was allowed to see the future
Vicomte d'Aubrion. Though all Paris is talking of his marriage and
the banns are published--

"He wrote to me after that!" thought Eugenie. She did not conclude the
thought; she did not cry out, as a Parisian woman would have done, "The
villain!" but though she said it not, contempt was none the less present
in her mind.

The marriage, however, will not come off. The Marquis d'Aubrion
will never give his daughter to the son of a bankrupt. I went to
tell Grandet of the steps his uncle and I took in his father's
business, and the clever manoeuvres by which we had managed to
keep the creditor's quiet until the present time. The insolent
fellow had the face to say to me--to me, who for five years have
devoted myself night and day to his interests and his honor!--that
_his father's affairs were not his_! A solicitor would have had
the right to demand fees amounting to thirty or forty thousand
francs, one per cent on the total of the debts. But patience!
there are twelve hundred thousand francs legitimately owing to the
creditors, and I shall at once declare his father a bankrupt.

I went into this business on the word of that old crocodile
Grandet, and I have made promises in the name of his family. If
Monsieur de vicomte d'Aubrion does not care for his honor, I care
for mine. I shall explain my position to the creditors. Still, I
have too much respect for Mademoiselle Eugenie (to whom under
happier circumstances we once hoped to be allied) to act in this
matter before you have spoken to her about it--

There Eugenie paused, and coldly returned the letter without finishing
it.

"I thank you," she said to Madame des Grassins.

"Ah! you have the voice and manner of your deceased father," Madame des
Grassins replied.

"Madame, you have eight thousand francs to pay us," said Nanon,
producing Charles's cheque.

"That's true; have the kindness to come with me now, Madame Cornoiller."

"Monsieur le cure," said Eugenie with a noble composure, inspired by the
thought she was about to express, "would it be a sin to remain a virgin
after marriage?"

"That is a case of conscience whose solution is not within my kno