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may lend him. Grandet! if you will not do this, you will lay up
for yourself remorse. Ah, should my child find neither tenderness
nor succor in you, I would call down the vengeance of God upon
your cruelty!
If I had been able to save something from the wreck, I might have
had the right to leave him at least a portion of his mother's
property; but my last monthly payments have absorbed everything. I
did not wish to die uncertain of my child's fate; I hoped to feel
a sacred promise in a clasp of your hand which might have warmed
my heart: but time fails me. While Charles is journeying to you I
shall be preparing my assignment. I shall endeavor to show by the
order and good faith of my accounts that my disaster comes neither
from a faulty life nor from dishonesty. It is for my son's sake
that I strive to do this.
Farewell, my brother! May the blessing of God be yours for the
generous guardianship I lay upon you, and which, I doubt not, you
will accept. A voice will henceforth and forever pray for you in
that world where we must all go, and where I am now as you read
these lines.
Victor-Ange-Guillaume Grandet.
"So you are talking?" said Pere Grandet as he carefully folded the
letter in its original creases and put it into his waistcoat-pocket.
He looked at his nephew with a humble, timid air, beneath which he hid
his feelings and his calculations. "Have you warmed yourself?" he said
to him.
"Thoroughly, my dear uncle."
"Well, where are the women?" said his uncle, already forgetting that
his nephew was to sleep at the house. At this moment Eugenie and
Madame Grandet returned.
"Is the room all ready?" said Grandet, recovering his composure.
"Yes, father."
"Well then, my nephew, if you are tired, Nanon shall show you your
room. It isn't a dandy's room; but you will excuse a poor wine-grower
who never has a penny to spare. Taxes swallow up everything."
"We do not wish to intrude, Grandet," said the banker; "you may want
to talk to your nephew, and therefore we will bid you good-night."
At these words the assembly rose, and each made a parting bow in
keeping with his or her own character. The old notary went to the door
to fetch his lantern and came back to light it, offering to accompany
the des Grassins on their way. Madame des Grassins had not foreseen
the incident which brought the evening prematurely to an end, her
servant therefore had not arrived.
"Will you do me the honor to take my arm, madame?" said the abbe.
"Thank you, monsieur l'abbe, but I have my son," she answered dryly.
"Ladies cannot compromise themselves with me," said the abbe.
"Take Monsieur Cruchot's arm," said her husband.
The abbe walked off with the pretty lady so quickly that they were
soon some distance in advance of the caravan.
"That is a good-looking young man, madame," he said, pressing her arm.
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