Then you will, perhaps, be obliged to ask
his consent in order to accept my gift. I hope that he will not refuse
it. One is not jealous of the dead!
"Besides, he knows well that you have scarcely vouchsafed a glance to
the poor peasant who has loved you so much.
"Do not be offended at anything I have said, I am in such agony that I
cannot weigh my words.
"Adieu, adieu, Marie-Anne.
"Chanlouineau."
Maurice also read twice, before handing it back, this letter whose every
word palpitated with sublime passion.
He was silent for a moment, then, in a husky voice, he said:
"You cannot refuse; it would be wrong."
His emotion was so great that he could not conceal it, and he left the
room.
He was overwhelmed by the grandeur of soul exhibited by this peasant,
who, after saving the life of his successful rival at the Croix d'Arcy,
had wrested Baron d'Escorval from the hands of his executioners, and
who had never allowed a complaint nor a reproach to escape his lips, and
whose protection over the woman he adored extended even from beyond the
grave.
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