n?' she
added, again fixing on the merchant the same menacing look that Le
Blanc had noticed in the church.

'Yes, yes,' was the quick reply of M. de Veron, who vainly attempted
to look the astounded clerk in the face. 'The mistake was mine. Your
accounts are quite correct, Monsieur le Blanc; and--and I shall be
glad, of course, to see you at the office as usual.'

'That is well,' said Madame Carson; 'and now, Monsieur Bourdon, to
business, if you please. Those documents will not take so long to read
as they did to write.'

The notary smiled, and immediately began reading a marriage-contract
between Eugene de Veron and Adeline le Blanc, by which it appeared
that the union of those young persons was joyfully acceded to by Jean
Baptiste de Veron and Marie le Blanc, their parents--the said Jean
Baptiste de Veron binding himself formally to endow the bride and
bridegroom jointly, on the day of marriage, with the sum of 300,000
francs, and, moreover, to admit his son as a partner in the business,
thenceforth to be carried on under the name of De Veron & Son.

This contract was written in duplicate, and as soon as the notary had
finished reading, Madame Carson handed a pen to M. de Veron, saying in
the same light, coquettish, but peremptory tone as before: 'Now,
Monsieur, quick, if you please: yours is the most important
signature.' The merchant signed and sealed both parchments, and the
other interested parties did the same, in silent, dumb bewilderment,
broken only by the scratching of the pens and the legal words repeated
after the notary. 'We need not detain you longer, Messieurs, I
believe,' said Madame Carson. '_Bon soir_, Monsieur de Veron,' she
added, extending an ungloved hand to that gentleman, who faintly
touched it with his lips; 'you will hear from me to-morrow.'

'What is the meaning of all this?' exclaimed Eugene de Veron, the
instant his father and the notary disappeared. 'I positively feel as
if standing upon my head!' A chorus of like interrogatories from the
Le Blancs assailed Madame Carson, whose ringing bursts of mirth mocked
for a time their impatience.

'Meaning, _parbleu_!' she at last replied, after pausing to catch
breath. 'That is plain enough, surely. Did you not all see with what
_empressement_ the poor man kissed my hand? There, don't look so
wretched, Edouard,' she added with a renewed outburst; 'perhaps I
may have the caprice to prefer you after all to an elderly
millionaire--who knows?