Page:Letters of Mlle. de Lespinasse.djvu/175

156 never guess what occupies my mind, what I desire to do; to marry one of my friends. I want an idea that has come to me to succeed; the Archbishop of Toulouse could be very helpful to the success of the affair. The young lady is sixteen years old and has only a mother, no father, and a brother. They will give her, on marrying, thirteen thousand francs a year; her mother will lodge her, and do so for a long time, because the son is a child. This girl cannot have less eventually than six hundred thousand francs, and she may be much richer: will that suit you, mon ami? Say so, and we will act; it can be done without offence, because the Archbishop of Toulouse has as much skill as courtesy. Let us talk it over; and if this plan does not succeed I know a man who would be very glad to have you for a son-in-law; but his daughter is only eleven years old; she is an only child and will be very rich. Mon ami, what I desire above all things is your happiness; and the means of procuring it for will become the chief interest of my life. There was a time when my soul would have been less generous; but then it responded to one who would have rejected with horror the empire of the world. What a memory! how sweet, how cruel! Good-night; if I receive, as I hope, a letter from you to-morrow I will add to this volume. For the last two days I have suffered less. I have reached the stage of two chicken-wings a day, and if that regimen does not succeed better than the others, I shall put myself on a milk diet.

Still Sunday, October 9. That adieu was very sudden, very abrupt, and you will readily understand that I have a thousand other things to say to you; for, if I am not mistaken, this is the last letter I shall write to you. As to this, I shall know to-morrow. You tell me that you are going to your regiment; you have twice you