Page:Novels of Honoré de Balzac Volume 23.djvu/262

 and put their greedy hands on presumable treasures. When the doctor, through the clergy, perceived his kneeling heirs, who, far from praying were watching him with eyes as keen as the gleam of a taper, he could not restrain a malicious smile. The curé turned round, saw them, and then said the prayers very slowly. The postmaster was the first to leave his tiring position, his wife followed him; Massin, fearing lest Zélie and her husband should lay their hands on some trifle, joined them in the drawing-room, and soon all the heirs were assembled there.

“He is too honest a man to steal the extreme unction,” said Crémière, “so we can be quite easy.”

“Yes, we shall each have about twenty thousand francs a year,” replied Madame Massin.

“I have an idea,” said Zélie, “that, for three years, he did not invest any more; he loved to hoard—”

“The treasure is no doubt in his cellar?” said Massin to Crémière.

“Provided that we find something,” said Minoret-Levrault.

“But, after his declaration at the ball,” cried Madame Massin, “there is no longer any doubt about it.”

“In any case,” said Crémière, “how shall we manage? Shall we share? shall we have an auction? or shall we divide by lots? for after all we are all of age.”

A discussion, growing rapidly more and more