n settled she, Jeanne, would have about seven or eight thousand
francs a year; not a penny more.

"Well, Rosalie," answered Jeanne, "I know I shall not live to be very
old, and I shall have enough until I die."

"Very likely you will, madame," replied Rosalie, getting angry; "but how
about M. Paul? Don't you mean to leave him anything?"

Jeanne shuddered. "Pray, don't ever speak to me about him; I cannot bear
to think of him."

"Yes, but I want to talk to you about him, because you don't look at
things in the right light, Madame Jeanne. He may be doing all sorts of
foolish things now, but he won't always behave the same. He'll marry and
then he'll want money to educate his children and to bring them up
properly. Now listen to what I am going to say; you must sell Les
Peuples--"

But Jeanne started up in bed.

"Sell Les Peuples! How can you think of such a thing? No! I will never
sell the chateau!"

Rosalie was not in the least put out.

"But I say you will, madame, simply because you must."

Then she explained her plans and her calculations. She had already found
a purchaser for Les Peuples and the two adjoining farms, and when they
had been sold Jeanne would still have four farms at Saint Leonard,
which, freed from the mortgages, would bring in about eight thousand
three hundred francs a year. Out of this income thirteen hundred francs
would have to go for the keeping up and repairing of the property; two
thousand would be put by for unforeseen expenses, and Jeanne would have
five thousand francs to live upon.

"Everything else is gone, so there's an end of it," said Rosalie. "But,
in future, I shall keep the money and M. Paul sha'n't have another
penny off you. He'd take your last farthing."

"But if he has not anything to eat?" murmured Jeanne, who was quietly
weeping.

"He can come to us if he's hungry; there'll always be victuals and a bed
for him. He'd never have got into trouble if you hadn't given him any
money the first time he asked for some."

"But he was in debt; he would have been dishonored."

"And don't you think he'll get into debt just the same when you've no
more money to give him? You have paid his debts up to now, so well and
good; but you won't pay any more, I can tell you. And now, good-night,
madame."

And away she went.

The idea of selling Les Peuples and leaving the house where she had
passed all her life threw Jeanne into a state of extreme agitation, and
she lay awake th