They covet my estates do they! Very
well, they shall have them. I will leave them my property, but
they shall find it mortgaged to its full value.'
"Unfortunate man! all his plans have failed. The heirs whom he
hated so bitterly, and whom I don't even know, whose existence
people have not even suspected, can now come, and they will find
the wealth he was determined to deprive them of intact. He
dreamed of a brilliant destiny for me--a proud name, and the rank
of a marchioness--and he has not even succeeded in protecting me
from the most shameful insults. I have been accused of theft
before his body was even cold. He wished to make me rich,
frightfully rich, and he has not left me enough to buy my bread--
literally, not enough to buy bread. He was in constant terror
concerning my safety, and he died without even telling me what
were the mysterious dangers which threatened me; without even
telling me something which I am morally certain of--that he was my
father. He raised me against my will to the highest social
position--he placed that wonderful talisman, gold, in my hand; he
showed me the world at my feet; and suddenly he allowed me to fall
even to lower depths of misery than those in which he found me.
Ah! M. de Chalusse, it would have been far better for me if you
had left me in the foundling asylum to have earned my own bread.
And yet, I freely forgive you."
Mademoiselle Marguerite reflected for a moment, questioning her
memory to ascertain if she had told everything--if she had
forgotten any particulars of importance.
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