Page:Eekhoud - The New Carthage.djvu/257

Rh "Vincent!" cried Laurent, putting his hand over Vincent's mouth. "Be sensible, Vincent. I disregard my good family entirely! It would be very foolish of me to refrain for the sake of the few remaining. You will finish by making me hate them in talking to me this way! It's a pity you were not present to see the welcome I received from that Dobouziez! Old age and disappointments have made him colder and fishier than ever! I am no longer one of them! I wonder whether I ever was! I owe them nothing. Our last links have been broken. And it is to those relatives who deny me, that you would have me sacrifice my affections? Come, come! Your refusal isn't serious … Siska will be more sensible than you."

"Useless, Monsieur Laurent! If my wife had foreseen this love affair, she would never have allowed you here! Spare her the pain of having to emphasize my refusal …"

"So be it!" said Laurent. "But if my visits are a nuisance to you, if a false honor,—yes, I say it advisedly, and so much the worse for you if you take it amiss—prevents your accepting me as a son-in-law,—I who had hop^d to make your Henriette so happy—^at least nothing can prevent you from accepting me as a creditor, and then it will be unnecessary to emigrate!"

"Thank you again. Monsieur Laurent, but we do not need it. To make all plain to you, Jean Vingerhout, the baes of the America, and your friend, is coming with us. He has realized his last cent and is going to try his luck in a new America …"

"Ah! I see it clearly, now! You are going to give Henriette to him!…"

"Well, yes!… Jean is a good chap in our sphere whom you appreciated from the first. And I must ask