Instead of leaving him a fortune, he left him only embarrassments, for he was three fourths ruined.  The disorder of his affairs had begun a long time before, and it was to repair them that he had married; a process that had not proved successful.  A large inheritance on which he had relied as coming to his wife went elsewhere—­to endow a charity hospital.  The Comte de Camors began a suit to recover it before the tribunal of the Council of State, but compromised it for an annuity of thirty thousand francs.  This stopped at his death.  He enjoyed, besides, several fat sinecures, which his name, his social rank, and his personal address secured him from some of the great insurance companies.  But these resources did not survive him; he only rented the house he had occupied; and the young Comte de Camors found himself suddenly reduced to the provision of his mother’s dowry—­a bare pittance to a man of his habits and rank.

His father had often assured him he could leave him nothing, so the son was accustomed to look forward to this situation.  Therefore, when he realized it, he was neither surprised nor revolted by the improvident egotism of which he was the victim.  His reverence for his father continued unabated, and he did not read with the less respect or confidence the singular missive which figures at the beginning of this story.  The moral theories which this letter advanced were not new to him.  They were a part of the very atmosphere around him; he had often revolved them in his feverish brain; yet, never before had they appeared to him in the condensed form of a dogma, with the clear precision of a practical code; nor as now, with the authorization of such a voice and of such an example.

One incident gave powerful aid in confirming the impression of these last pages on his mind.  Eight days after his father’s death, he was reclining on the lounge in his smoking-room, his face dark as night and as his thoughts, when a servant entered and handed him a card.  He took it listlessly, and read “Lescande, architect.”  Two red spots rose to his pale cheeks—­“I do not see any one,” he said.

“So I told this gentleman,” replied the servant, “but he insists in such an extraordinary manner—­”

“In an extraordinary manner?”

“Yes, sir; as if he had something very serious to communicate.”

“Something serious—­aha!  Then let him in.”  Camors rose and paced the chamber, a smile of bitter mockery wreathing his lips.  “And must I now kill him?” he muttered between his teeth.

Lescande entered, and his first act dissipated the apprehension his conduct had caused.  He rushed to the young Count and seized him by both hands, while Camors remarked that his face was troubled and his lips trembled.  “Sit down and be calm,” he said.

“My friend,” said the other, after a pause, “I come late to see you, for which I crave pardon; but—­I am myself so miserable!  See, I am in mourning!”