第33章(3 / 3)

A third knight coming along declared it red.

When the chevalier went home that night, he made many reflections, as follows:--"It is high time now to spread a rumor of my marriage with Mademoiselle Cormon.It will leak out from the d'Esgrignon salon, and go straight to the bishop at Seez, and so get round through the grand vicars to the curate of Saint-Leonard's, who will be certain to tell it to the Abbe Couturier; and Mademoiselle Cormon will get the shot in her upper works.The old Marquis d'Esgrignon shall invite the Abbe de Sponde to dinner, so as to stop all gossip about Mademoiselle Cormon if I decide against her, or about me if she refuses me.The abbe shall be well cajoled; and Mademoiselle Cormon will certainly not hold out against a visit from Mademoiselle Armande, who will show her the grandeur and future chances of such an alliance.The abbe's property is undoubtedly as much as three hundred thousand; her own savings must amount to more than two hundred thousand; she has her house and Prebaudet and fifteen thousand francs a year.A word to my friend the Comte de Fontaine, and I should be mayor of Alencon to-morrow, and deputy.Then, once seated on the Right benches, we shall reach the peerage, shouting, 'Cloture!' 'Ordre!'"As soon as she reached home Madame Granson had a lively argument with her son, who could not be made to see the connection which existed between his love and his political opinions.It was the first quarrel that had ever troubled that poor household.