e omitted to detect their
refuge, even if I have to travel over Europe."

"Be of good cheer, then, Monsieur Gustave," said the notary; "for I
doubt not we shall soon attain our end. And, now that you are assured of
my best services, I will be gratified if you allow me to speak to you a
moment quietly and seriously. I have no right to ask what are your
intentions, and still less the right to suppose that those intentions
can be any thing else than proper in every respect. May I inquire if it
is your design to marry Mademoiselle Lenora?"

"That is my irrevocable determination," replied the young man.

"Irrevocable?" said the notary. "Be it so! The confidence which your
venerable uncle was always pleased to repose in me, and my position as
notary of the family, impose on me the duty of setting before you coolly
what you are about to do. You are a _millionaire_; you have a name which
in commerce alone represents an immense capital. Monsieur De Vlierbeck
is penniless; his ruin is generally known; and the world, justly or
unjustly, looks askance at a ruined man. With your fortune, with your
youth and person, you may obtain the hand of an heiress and double your
income!"

Gustave listened to the first words of this calculating essay with
evident impatience; but he soon turned away his eyes and began to fold
up the papers and put them in his portfolio. As the notary finished, he
answered, quickly,--

"Well, well, I suppose you have done your duty, and I thank you; but we
have had enough of that. Tell me who owns Grinselhof now?"

The man of business appeared considerably disconcerted by the
contemptuous interruption of his visitor; yet he strove to conceal his
mortification by a sorry smile, as he replied,--

"I see, sir, that you have taken a firm stand and will do as you please.
Grinselhof was bought in by the mortgagees, for the price offered was
below its value."

"Who lives there?"

"It is uninhabited. No one goes to the country in winter."

"Can it be bought from its present proprietor?"

"Certainly. I am authorized to offer it to any one for the amount of the
mortgages."

"Then Grinselhof belongs to _me!_ Be kind enough to inform the owners of
it at once!"

"Very well, sir. Consider Grinselhof as your property from this moment.
If you wish to visit it you will find the keys at the tenant's house."

Gustave took his hat and made ready to go, and, as he did so, pressed
the notary's hand with evident cordi