kilfully evading the heavy costs to be paid by the inheritor of an
estate.

He explained to Gaston that he could, by an act of partnership,
associate Louis in his business enterprises, by signing an
acknowledgment that half of the money invested in these various
concerns, belonged to and had been advanced by his brother; so that, in
the event of Gaston's death, Louis would only have to pay taxes on half
the fortune.

Gaston eagerly took advantage of this fiction; not that he thought
of the money saved by the transaction if he died, but this would be
a favorable opportunity for sharing his riches with Louis, without
wounding his delicate sensibility.

A deed of partnership between Gaston and Louis de Clameran, for the
working of a cast-iron mill, was drawn up; this deed acknowledged
Louis to have invested five hundred thousand francs as his share of the
capital; therefore half of the iron-works was his in his own right.

When Louis was called in to sign the paper, he violently opposed his
brother's project.

"Why do you distress me by making these preparations for death, merely
because you are suffering from a slight indisposition? Do you think that
I would consent to accept your wealth during your lifetime? If you die,
I am your heir; if you live, I enjoy your property as if it were my
own. What more can you wish? Pray do not draw up any papers; let things
remain as they are, and turn all your attention to getting well."

Vain remonstrances. Gaston was not a man to be persuaded from
accomplishing a purpose upon which he had fully set his heart. When,
after mature deliberation, he made a resolution, he always carried it
out in spite of all opposition.

After a long and heroic resistance, which betrayed great nobleness of
character and rare disinterestedness, Louis, urged by the physician,
finally yielded, and signed his name to the papers drawn up by the
lawyer.

It was done. Now he was legally Gaston's partner, and possessor of half
his fortune. No court of law could deprive him of what had been deeded
with all the legal formalities, even if his brother should change his
mind and try to get back his property.

The strangest sensations now filled Louis's breast.

He was in a state of delirious excitement often felt by persons suddenly
raised from poverty to affluence.

Whether Gaston lived or died, Louis was the lawful possessor of an
income of twenty-five thousand francs, without counting the eventual
pro