Page:Novels of Honoré de Balzac Volume 23.djvu/268

 your education and your lofty ideas would cause you misfortune. Besides, you owe a handsome dowry to the charming young man who loves you. So you will find—in the middle of the third volume of the Pandects, in folio, bound in red morocco, which is the last volume in the. first row, above the tablet of the library, in the last division on the salon side, three bonds of the three per cents, to bearer, of twelve thousand francs each—

“What depth of villainy!” cried the postmaster. “Ah! God will not allow me to be so defrauded.”

“Take them at once, as well as the small arrears of savings up to the time of my death, and which will be in the preceding volume. Remember, my adored child, that you ought to blindly obey a thought which has formed the happiness of my whole life, and which will oblige me to ask the help of God, if you disobey me. But, in anticipation of any scruple of your dear conscience, which I know to be ingenious at self-torture, you will find herewith a will in due form of these bonds for the benefit of Monsieur Savinien de Portenduère. And so, whether you yourself possess them, or whether they come to you from him whom you love, they will be your lawful property.

“Your godfather,

“DENIS MlNORET.”

“To this was subjoined, on a square piece of stamped paper, the following document:

“I, Denis Minoret, doctor of medicine, residing at Nemours, of sound mind and body, as is shown by the date of this will, do bequeath my soul to God, praying him to pardon my long errors in favor of my sincere repentance. Then, knowing