"Monsieur le comte," he said, "you are an open-hearted soldier, and I
know you will regard my frankness as a title to your esteem. When
proposals of marriage, with all their brutal,--or, if you please, too
civilized--discussions, are carried on by third parties, it is an
injury to all. We are both gentlemen, and both discreet; and you, like
myself, have passed beyond the age of surprises. Let us therefore
speak as intimates. I will set you the example. I am twenty-nine years
old, without landed estates, and full of ambition. Mademoiselle
Modeste, as you must have perceived, pleases me extremely. Now, in
spite of the little defects which your dear girl likes to assume--"
"--not counting those she really possesses," said the colonel,
smiling,--
"--I should gladly make her my wife, and I believe I could render her
happy. The question of money is of the utmost importance to my future,
which hangs to-day in the balance. All young girls expect to be loved
_whether or no_--fortune or no fortune. But you are not the man to marry
your dear Modeste without a 'dot,' and my situation does not allow me
to make a marriage of what is called love unless with a woman who has
a fortune at least equal to mine.
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