Madame Evangelista took his hand and pressed it cordially, with a tear of emotion.

“Listen to me, my dear children,” she said, looking from Paul to Natalie; “since you really feel thus, I have a proposition to make to both of you.  I find myself obliged to sell my pearl necklace and my earrings.  Yes, Paul, it is necessary; I do not choose to put a penny of my fortune into an annuity; I know what I owe to you.  Well, I admit a weakness; to sell the ‘Discreto’ seems to me a disaster.  To sell a diamond which bears the name of Philip the Second and once adorned his royal hand, an historic stone which the Duke of Alba touched for ten years in the hilt of his sword—­no, no, I cannot!  Elie Magus estimates my necklace and ear-rings at a hundred and some odd thousand francs without the clasps.  Will you exchange the other jewels I made over to you for these? you will gain by the transaction, but what of that?  I am not selfish.  Instead of those mere fancy jewels, Paul, your wife will have fine diamonds which she can really enjoy.  Isn’t it better that I should sell those ornaments which will surely go out of fashion, and that you should keep in the family these priceless stones?”

“But, my dear mother, consider yourself,” said Paul.

“I,” replied Madame Evangelista, “I want such things no longer.  Yes, Paul, I am going to be your bailiff at Lanstrac.  It would be folly in me to go to Paris at the moment when I ought to be here to liquidate my property and settle my affairs.  I shall grow miserly for my grandchildren.”

“Dear mother,” said Paul, much moved, “ought I to accept this exchange without paying you the difference?”

“Good heavens! are you not, both of you, my dearest interests?  Do you suppose I shall not find happiness in thinking, as I sit in my chimney-corner, ’Natalie is dazzling to-night at the Duchesse de Berry’s ball’?  When she sees my diamond at her throat and my ear-rings in her ears she will have one of those little enjoyments of vanity which contribute so much to a woman’s happiness and make her so gay and fascinating.  Nothing saddens a woman more than to have her vanity repressed; I have never seen an ill-dressed woman who was amiable or good-humored.”

“Heavens! what was Mathias thinking about?” thought Paul.  “Well, then, mamma,” he said, in a low voice, “I accept.”

“But I am confounded!” said Natalie.

At this moment Solonet arrived to announce the good news that he had found among the speculators of Bordeaux two contractors who were much attracted by the house, the gardens of which could be covered with dwellings.

“They offer two hundred and fifty thousand francs,” he said; “but if you consent to the sale, I can make them give you three hundred thousand.  There are three acres of land in the garden.”

“My husband paid two hundred thousand for the place, therefore I consent,” she replied.  “But you must reserve the furniture and the mirrors.”