would bestow as she desired, was an office
worthy of his legal talent and his well-known probity. Butscha,
meanwhile, who had been walking about with La Briere, was greatly
alarmed at the progress Canalis was evidently making, and he waylaid
Modeste at the lower step of the portico when the whole party returned
to the house to endure the torments of their inevitable whist.
"Mademoiselle," he said, in a low whisper, "I do hope you don't call
him Melchior."
"I'm very near it, my Black Dwarf," she said, with a smile that might
have made an angel swear.
"Good God!" exclaimed Butscha, letting fall his hands, which struck
the marble steps.
"Well! and isn't he worth more than that spiteful and gloomy secretary
in whom you take such an interest?" she retorted, assuming, at the
mere thought of Ernest, the haughty manner whose secret belongs
exclusively to young girls,--as if their virginity lent them wings to
fly to heaven. "Pray, would your little La Briere accept me without a
fortune?" she said, after a pause.
"Ask your father," replied Butscha, who walked a few steps from the
house, to get Modeste at a safe distance from the windows.
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