Though
the plates and dishes were of common white china, the table shone with
handsome linen and abundant silverware. After Zelie had served the
coffee, coming and going herself like shot in a decanter,--for she kept
but one servant, --and when Desire, the budding lawyer, had been told
of the event of the morning and its probably consequences, the door was
closed, and the notary Dionis was called upon to speak. By the silence
in the room and the looks that were cast on that authoritative face, it
was easy to see the power that such men exercise over families.
"My dear children," said he, "your uncle having been born in 1746, is
eighty-three years old at the present time; now, old men are given to
folly, and that little--"
"Viper!" cried Madame Massin.
"Hussy!" said Zelie.
"Let us call her by her own name," said Dionis.
"Well, she's a thief," said Madame Cremiere.
"A pretty thief," remarked Desire.
"That little Ursula," went on Dionis, "has managed to get hold of his
heart. I have been thinking of your interests, and I did not wait
until now before making certain inquiries; now this is what I have
discovered about that young--"
"Marauder," said the collector.
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