Page:The Count of Monte-Cristo (1887 Volume 3).djvu/42

22 "Your family appears to me a very happy one!" said the count, as if speaking to himself.

"Oh, yes, I assure you, M. le Comte, they want nothing that can render them happy; they are young and cheerful, they are tenderly attached to each other, and with twenty-five thousand francs a year they fancy themselves as rich as Rothschild."

"Five-aud-twenty thousand francs is not a large sum, however," replied Monte-Cristo, with a tone so sweet and gentle that it went to Maximilian's heart like the voice of a father;" but they will not be content with that. Your brother-in-law is a banister? a doctor?"

"He was a merchant, M. le Comte, and had succeeded to the business of my poor father. M. Morrel, at his death, left five hundred thousand francs, which were divided between my sister and myself, for we were his only children. Her husband, who, when he married her, had no other patrimony than his noble probity, his first-rate ability, and his spotless reputation, wished to possess as much as his wife. He labored and toiled until he had amassed two hundred and fifty thousand francs; six years sufficed to achieve this object. Oh, I assure you, M. le Comte, it was a touching spectacle to see these young creatures, destined by their talents for higher stations, toiling together, and who, unwilling to change any of the customs of their paternal house, took six years to accomplish that which innovators would have effected in two or three. Marseilles resounded with their well-earned praises. At last, one day, Emmanuel came to his wife, who had just finished making up the accounts.

"'Julie,' said he to her, 'Codes has just given me the last rouleau of a hundred francs; that completes the two hundred and fifty thousand francs we had fixed as the limits of our gains. Can you content your self with the small fortune which we shall possess for the future? Listen to me. Our house transacts business to the amount of a million a year, from which we derive an income of forty thousand francs. We can dispose of the business, if we please, in an hour, for I have received a letter from M. Delaunay, in which he offers to purchase the good-will of the house, to unite with his own, for three hundred thousand francs. Advise me what I had better do.'

"'Emmanuel,' returned my sister, 'the house of Morrel can only be carried on by a Morrel. Is it not worth three hundred thousand francs to save our father's name from the chances of evil fortune and failure?'

"'I thought so,' replied Emmanuel; 'but I wished to have your advice.'

"'This is my counsel:—Our accounts are made up and our bills paid; all we have to do is to stop the issue of any more and close our office.'

"This was done instantly. It was three o'clock; at a quarter-past, a