To be destitute is the last depth of misfortune in society as now
constituted. I am a man of my time; I respect money."
"And you are right," said Adeline, "from the worldly point of view."
She was a thousand miles from her point, and she felt herself on a
gridiron, like Saint Laurence, as she thought of her uncle, for she
could see him blowing his brains out.
She looked down; then she raised her eyes to gaze at Crevel with
angelic sweetness--not with the inviting suggestiveness which was part
of Valerie's wit. Three years ago she could have bewitched Crevel by
that beautiful look.
"I have known the time," said she, "when you were more generous--you
used to talk of three hundred thousand francs like a grand
gentleman--"
Crevel looked at Madame Hulot; he beheld her like a lily in the last
of its bloom, vague sensations rose within him, but he felt such
respect for this saintly creature that he spurned all suspicions and
buried them in the most profligate corner of his heart.
"I, madame, am still the same; but a retired merchant, if he is a
grand gentleman, plays, and must play, the part with method and
economy; he carries his ideas of order into everything. He opens an
account for his little amusements, and devotes certain profits to that
head of expenditure; but as to touching his capital! it would be
folly. My children will have their fortune intact, mine and my wife's;
but I do not suppose that they wish their father to be dull, a monk
and a mummy! My life is a very jolly one; I float gaily down the
stream.
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