“No, my dear mamma,” said the little Jesuit.

“Can you swear it?”

“Oh, yes!” cried Modeste.

Madame Mignon said no more; but she still doubted.

“At least, if you do choose your husband, you will tell your father?” she resumed.

“I promised that to my sister, and to you, mother.  What evil do you think I could commit while I wear that ring upon my finger and read those words:  ‘Think of Bettina?’ Poor sister!”

At these words a truce of silence came between the pair; the mother’s blighted eyes rained tears which Modeste could not check, though she threw herself upon her knees, and cried:  “Forgive me! oh, forgive me, mother!”

At this instant the excellent Dumay was coming up the hill of Ingouville on the double-quick,—­a fact quite abnormal in the present life of the cashier.

Three letters had brought ruin to the Mignons; a single letter now restored their fortunes.  Dumay had received from a sea-captain just arrived from the China Seas the following letter containing the first news of his patron and friend, Charles Mignon:—­

  To Monsieur Jean Dumay: 

My Dear Dumay,—­I shall quickly follow, barring the chances of the voyage, the vessel which carries this letter.  In fact, I should have taken it, but I did not wish to leave my own ship to which I am accustomed.

I told you that no new was to be good news.  But the first words of this letter ought to make you a happy man.  I have made seven millions at the least.  I am bringing back a large part of it in indigo, one third in safe London securities, and another third in good solid gold.  Your remittances helped me to make the sum I had settled in my own mind much sooner than I expected.  I wanted two millions for my daughters and a competence for myself.

I have been engaged in the opium trade with the largest houses in Canton, all ten times richer than ever I was.  You have no idea, in Europe, what these rich East India merchants are.  I went to Asia Minor and purchased opium at low prices, and from thence to Canton where I delivered my cargoes to the companies who control the trade.  My last expedition was to the Philippine Islands where I exchanged opium for indigo of the first quality.  In fact, I may have half a million more than I stated, for I reckoned the indigo at what it cost me.  I have always been well in health; not the slightest illness.  That is the result of working for one’s children.  Since the second year I have owned a pretty little brig of seven hundred tons, called the “Mignon.”  She is built of oak, double-planked, and copper-fastened; and all the interior fittings were done to suit me.  She is, in fact, an additional piece of property.

A sea-life and the active habits required by my business have kept me in good health.  To tell you all this is the same as telling it to my two daughters and my dear wife.  I trust that