She had called out the figures in a clear, distinct voice, and she now handed the paper to Florent, who was obliged to take it.

“But the old man’s business was certainly never worth fifteen thousand francs!” cried Quenu.  “Why, I wouldn’t have given ten thousand for it!”

He had ended by getting quite angry with his wife.  Really, it was absurd to carry honesty to such a point as that!  Had Florent said one word about the business?  No, indeed, he had declared that he didn’t wish for anything.

“The business was worth fifteen thousand three hundred and ten francs,” Lisa re-asserted, calmly.  “You will agree with me, my dear Florent, that it is quite unnecessary to bring a lawyer into our affairs.  It is for us to arrange the division between ourselves, since you have now turned up again.  I naturally thought of this as soon as you arrived; and, while you were in bed with the fever, I did my best to draw up this little inventory.  It contains, as you see, a fairly complete statement of everything.  I have been through our old books, and have called up my memory to help me.  Read it aloud, and I will give you any additional information you may want.”

Florent ended by smiling.  He was touched by this easy and, as it were, natural display of probity.  Placing the sheet of figures on the young woman’s knee, he took hold of her hand and said, “I am very glad, my dear Lisa, to hear that you are prosperous, but I will not take your money.  The heritage belongs to you and my brother, who took care of my uncle up to the last.  I don’t require anything, and I don’t intend to hamper you in carrying on your business.”

Lisa insisted, and even showed some vexation, while Quenu gnawed his thumbs in silence to restrain himself.

“Ah!” resumed Florent with a laugh, “if Uncle Gradelle could hear you, I think he’d come back and take the money away again.  I was never a favourite of his, you know.”

“Well, no,” muttered Quenu, no longer able to keep still, “he certainly wasn’t over fond of you.”

Lisa, however, still pressed the matter.  She did not like to have money in her secretaire that did not belong to her; it would worry her, said she; the thought of it would disturb her peace.  Thereupon Florent, still in a joking way, proposed to invest his share in the business.  Moreover, said he, he did not intend to refuse their help; he would, no doubt, be unable to find employment all at once; and then, too, he would need a complete outfit, for he was scarcely presentable.

“Of course,” cried Quenu, “you will board and lodge with us, and we will buy you all that you want.  That’s understood.  You know very well that we are not likely to leave you in the streets, I hope!”

He was quite moved now, and even felt a trifle ashamed of the alarm he had experienced at the thought of having to hand over a large amount of money all at once.  He began to joke, and told his brother that he would undertake to fatten him.  Florent gently shook his hand; while Lisa folded up the sheet of figures and put it away in a drawer of the secretaire.