第54章

"To-morrow you shall have him at home, to remain ten days," said Emmanuel; "he must be in Paris by the fifteenth of November.""My cousin Gabriel has done a sensible thing," said the lawyer, eyeing the professor from head to foot; "for he will have to make his own way.But, my dear cousin, the question now is how to save the honor of the family: will you listen to what I say this time?""No," she said, "not if it relates to marriage.""Then what will you do?"

"I?--nothing."

"But you are of age."

"I shall be in a few days.Have you any course to suggest to me," she added, "which will reconcile our interests with the duty we owe to our father and to the honor of the family?""My dear cousin, nothing can be done till your uncle arrives.When he does, I will call again.""Adieu, monsieur," said Marguerite.

"The poorer she is the more airs she gives herself," thought the notary."Adieu, mademoiselle," he said aloud."Monsieur, my respects to you"; and he went away, paying no attention to Felicie or Martha.

"I have been studying the Code for the last two days, and I have consulted an experienced old lawyer, a friend of my uncle," said Emmanuel, in a hesitating voice."If you will allow me, I will go to Amsterdam to-morrow and see Monsieur Conyncks.Listen, dear Marguerite--"He uttered her name for the first time; she thanked him with a smile and a tearful glance, and made a gentle inclination of her head.He paused, looking at Felicie and Martha.

"Speak before my sister," said Marguerite."She is so docile and courageous that she does not need this discussion to make her resigned to our life of toil and privation; but it is best that she should see for herself how necessary courage is to us."The two sisters clasped hands and kissed each other, as if to renew some pledge of union before the coming disaster.

"Leave us, Martha."

"Dear Marguerite," said Emmanuel, letting the happiness he felt in conquering the lesser rights of affection sound in the inflections of his voice, "I have procured the names and addresses of the purchasers who still owe the remaining two hundred thousand francs on the felled timber.To-morrow, if you give consent, a lawyer acting in the name of Monsieur Conyncks, who will not disavow the act, will serve an injunction upon them.Six days hence, by which time your uncle will have returned, the family council can be called together, and Gabriel put in possession of his legal rights, for he is now eighteen.You and your brother being thus authorized to use those rights, you will demand your share in the proceeds of the timber.Monsieur Claes cannot refuse you the two hundred thousand francs on which the injunction will have been put; as to the remaining hundred thousand which is due to you, you must obtain a mortgage on this house.Monsieur Conyncks will demand securities for the three hundred thousand belonging to Felicie and Jean.Under these circumstances your father will be obliged to mortgage his property on the plain of Orchies, which he has already encumbered to the amount of three hundred thousand francs.The law gives a retrospective priority to the claims of minors; and that will save you.Monsieur Claes's hands will be tied for the future;your property becomes inalienable, and he can no longer borrow on his own estates because they will be held as security for other sums.

Moreover, the whole can be done quietly, without scandal or legal proceedings.Your father will be forced to greater prudence in making his researches, even if he cannot be persuaded to relinquish them altogether.""Yes," said Marguerite, "but where, meantime, can we find the means of living? The hundred thousand francs for which, you say, I must obtain a mortgage on this house, would bring in nothing while we still live here.The proceeds of my father's property in the country will pay the interest on the three hundred thousand francs he owes to others; but how are we to live?""In the first place," said Emmanuel, "by investing the fifty thousand francs which belong to Gabriel in the public Funds you will get, according to present rates, more than four thousand francs' income, which will suffice to pay your brother's board and lodging and all his other expenses in Paris.Gabriel cannot touch the capital until he is of age, therefore you need not fear that he will waste a penny of it, and you will have one expense the less.Besides, you will have your own fifty thousand.""My father will ask me for them," she said in a frightened tone; "and I shall not be able to refuse him.""Well, dear Marguerite, even so, you can evade that by robbing yourself.Place your money in the Grand-Livre in Gabriel's name: it will bring you twelve or thirteen thousand francs a year.Minors who are emancipated cannot sell property without permission of the family council; you will thus gain three years' peace of mind.By that time your father will either have solved his problem or renounced it; and Gabriel, then of age, will reinvest the money in your own name."Marguerite made him explain to her once more the legal points which she did not at first understand.It was certainly a novel sight to see this pair of lovers poring over the Code, which Emmanuel had brought with him to show his mistress the laws which protected the property of minors; she quickly caught the meaning of them, thanks to the natural penetration of women, which in this case love still further sharpened.