The
General, suspecting that she had stolen the missing money, had
imparted his suspicions to his wife; and she, being as avaricious
and as unscrupulous as himself, was doing her best to secure the
booty for her son. Such a calculation is a common one nowadays.
Steal yourself? Fie. never! You would not dare. Besides, you are
honest. But it is quite a different thing to profit by other
people's rascality. Besides, there are no risks to be
encountered.
On perusing the letter a second time, it seemed to Mademoiselle
Marguerite that she could hear the General and his wife discussing
the means of obtaining a share of the two millions. She could
hear Madame de Fondege saying to her husband: "You are a block-
head! You frightened the girl by your precipitancy and roughness.
But fortunately, I'm here. Let me manage the affair; and I'll
prove that women are far more clever than men." And, thereupon,
she had seized her pen, and commenced this letter. In
Mademoiselle Marguerite's opinion, the epistle betrayed the joint
efforts of the pair. She could have sworn that the husband had
dictated the sentence: "The General feels that he should be
insulting and betraying the memory of a man who was his dearest
friend for thirty years, if he did not become your second father."
On the other hand, the phrase, "I shall find a way to persuade you
to love us, and to allow yourself to be loved," was unmistakably
the wife's work.
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