All they have to live
upon is what Victorin may make in Court. He must wag his tongue more,
must monsieur your son! And he was to have been a Minister, that
learned youth! Our hope and pride. A pretty pilot, who runs aground
like a land-lubber; for if he had borrowed to enable him to get on, if
he had run into debt for feasting Deputies, winning votes, and
increasing his influence, I should be the first to say, 'Here is my
purse--dip your hand in, my friend!' But when it comes of paying for
papa's folly--folly I warned you of!--Ah! his father has deprived him
of every chance of power.--It is I who shall be Minister!"
"Alas, my dear Crevel, it has nothing to do with the children, poor
devoted souls!--If your heart is closed to Victorin and Celestine, I
shall love them so much that perhaps I may soften the bitterness of
their souls caused by your anger. You are punishing your children for
a good action!"
"Yes, for a good action badly done! That is half a crime," said
Crevel, much pleased with his epigram.
"Doing good, my dear Crevel, does not mean sparing money out of a
purse that is bursting with it; it means enduring privations to be
generous, suffering for liberality! It is being prepared for
ingratitude! Heaven does not see the charity that costs us nothing--"
"Saints, madame, may if they please go to the workhouse; they know
that it is for them the door of heaven. For my part, I am
worldly-minded; I fear God, but yet more I fear the hell of poverty.
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