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 gloomily, "that Mademoiselle Chiaramonti's conduct is such as to drive any prudent man to distraction; and that if you marry her with even more than a hundred thousand francs' fortune, you will be doing a most imprudent thing."

Madame Bourcet paused for Louis to digest this. Then, she continued, after an impressive pause:

"And my brother also says, and desired me particularly to impress this upon you—that a dot of a hundred thousand francs is something enormous in our station of life; that he does not know of a single acquaintance of his own who has been so fortunate as to marry so much; and his own good fortune in marrying two hundred thousand francs is absolutely unprecedented. Moreover, through Mademoiselle Chiaramonti's connection with the Holy Father, your prospects, no doubt, would be splendidly advanced; and to throw away such a chance would be—a most imprudent thing."

So all the comfort poor Louis got was, that, whatever he did, he would he doing a most imprudent thing. The knowledge of this made him a truly miserable man.