“Exactly so,” said he. “A marriage protects one against such
reverses.
“Every man in active business, when he marries, settles upon his
wife reasonable fortune. I expect to settle six hundred thousand
francs upon mine.”
“So that, if you were to meet with an--accident?”
“We should enjoy our thirty thousand a year under the very nose of
the creditors.”
Blushing with shame, Mlle. Gilberte rose.
“But then,” said she, “it isn’t a wife that you are looking for: it
is an accomplice.”
He was spared the embarrassment of an answer, by the servant, who
came in, bringing in tea. He accepted a cup; and after two or
three anecdotes, judging that he had done enough for a first visit,
he withdrew, and a moment later they heard his carriage driving off
at full gallop.