have the capital I brought here with me; I wish them to know that,
and to let me alone. If any one of them attempts to interfere with what
I think proper to do for that young girl (pointing to Ursula) I shall
come back from the other world and torment him. So, Monsieur Savinien
de Portenduere will stay in prison if they count on me to get him out. I
shall not sell my property in the Funds."

Hearing this last fragment of the sentence Ursula experienced the first
and only pain which so far had ever touched her. She laid her head
against the blind to steady herself.

"Good God, what is the matter with her?" thought the old doctor. "She
has no color; such an emotion after dinner might kill her."

He went to her with open arms, and she fell into them almost fainting.

"Adieu, Monsieur," he said to the notary, "please leave us."

He carried his child to an immense Louis XV. sofa which was in his
study, looked for a phial of hartshorn among his remedies, and made her
inhale it.

"Take my place," said the doctor to Bongrand, who was terrified; "I must
be alone with her."

The justice of peace accompanied the notary to the gate, asking him, but
without showing any eagerness, what was the matter with Ursula.

"I don't know," replied Dionis. "She was standing by the pagoda,
listening to us, and just as her uncle (so-called) refused to lend
some money at my request to young de Portenduere who is in prison for
debt,--for he has not had, like Monsieur du Rouvre, a Monsieur Bongrand
to defend him,--she turned pale and staggered. Can she love him? Is
there anything between them?"

"At fifteen years of age? pooh!" replied Bongrand.

"She was born in February, 1813; she'll be sixteen in four months."

"I don't believe she ever saw him," said the judge. "No, it is only a
nervous attack."

"Attack of the heart, more likely," said the notary.

Dionis was delighted with this discovery, which would prevent the
marriage "in extremis" which they dreaded,--the only sure means by which
the doctor could defraud his relatives. Bongrand, on the other hand, saw
a private castle of his own demolished; he had long thought of marrying
his son to Ursula.

"If the poor girl loves that youth it will be a misfortune for her,"
replied Bongrand after a pause. "Madame de Portenduere is a Breton and
infatuated with her noble blood."

"Luckily--I mean for the honor of the Portendueres," replied the notary,
on the point of betraying himself.