, come three times."

"Is that all! You are quite young again, my dear boy!"

"Only let me pack off Hulot, humiliate him, rid you of him," said
Crevel, not heeding her impertinence! "Have nothing to say to the
Brazilian, be mine alone; you shall not repent of it. To begin with, I
will give you eight thousand francs a year, secured by bond, but only as
an annuity; I will not give you the capital till the end of five years'
constancy--"

"Always a bargain! A tradesman can never learn to give. You want to stop
for refreshments on the road of love--in the form of Government bonds!
Bah! Shopman, pomatum seller! you put a price on everything!--Hector
told me that the Duc d'Herouville gave Josepha a bond for thirty
thousand francs a year in a packet of sugar almonds! And I am worth six
of Josepha.

"Oh! to be loved!" she went on, twisting her ringlets round her fingers,
and looking at herself in the glass. "Henri loves me. He would smash
you like a fly if I winked at him! Hulot loves me; he leaves his wife in
beggary! As for you, go my good man, be the worthy father of a family.
You have three hundred thousand francs over and above your fortune,
only to amuse yourself, a hoard, in fact, and you think of nothing but
increasing it--"

"For you, Valerie, since I offer you half," said he, falling on his
knees.

"What, still here!" cried Marneffe, hideous in his dressing-gown. "What
are you about?"

"He is begging my pardon, my dear, for an insulting proposal he has
dared to make me. Unable to obtain my consent, my gentleman proposed to
pay me----"

Crevel only longed to vanish into the cellar, through a trap, as is done
on the stage.

"Get up, Crevel," said Marneffe, laughing, "you are ridiculous. I can
see by Valerie's manner that my honor is in no danger."

"Go to bed and sleep in peace," said Madame Marneffe.

"Isn't she clever?" thought Crevel. "She has saved me. She is adorable!"

As Marneffe disappeared, the Mayor took Valerie's hands and kissed them,
leaving on them the traces of tears.

"It shall all stand in your name," he said.

"That is true love," she whispered in his ear. "Well, love for love.
Hulot is below, in the street. The poor old thing is waiting to return
when I place a candle in one of the windows of my bedroom. I give you
leave to tell him that you are the man I love; he will refuse to believe
you; take him to the Rue du Dauphin, give him every proof, crush him; I
allow it--I order it! I a