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Gustave listened to the first words of this calculating essay with evident impatience; but he soon turned away his eyes and began to fold up the papers and put them in his portfolio. As the notary finished, he answered, quickly, "Well, well, I suppose you have done your duty, and I thank you; but we have had enough of that. Tell me who owns Grinselhof now?"
Lenora raised her head quickly as she replied, in a firm and resolute manner, "What! could Gustave ever dream of our separation? To leave you at Grinselhof passing your days in seclusion while I and my husband were in the world in the midst of festivity?
The ardent youth no longer resisted an impulse that drew him toward the bewitching girl, nor did he allow a single day to roll by without passing the afternoon at Grinselhof. The happy hours flew rapidly on the wings of love.
And, as to ourselves, we no longer possess any thing; for Grinselhof and our other lands were mortgaged for more than they were worth. Besides this, I was forced to borrow from a gentleman of my acquaintance four thousand francs upon my bond. "When your mother heard of the sacrifices to which I was forced to submit, she made no reproaches; at first she fully approved my conduct.
I lay my fortune, heart, and life at your feet; and, in exchange, I implore the happiness of leading Lenora to the altar. Grant me that favor, O my father! Grinselhof awaits you. I bought it for you. Every thing is there again. The portraits of your ancestors are in their places on the wall, and every thing that was dear to you is restored.
"But see! see! he is coming into the avenue!" cried Bess, with increasing interest. "Oh, God! I am sure it is a messenger with news! Heaven grant it may be good!" As she said this the rider passed through the gate at full gallop, and, drawing rein at the door they had just reached, took a letter from his pocket and handed it to the master of Grinselhof:
Denecker threw back his head with a laugh, as he replied, "What nonsense you made him believe! But, between us two, that passes for nothing. He tells me that Grinselhof don't belong to you and that you are poor! I hope, Monsieur De Vlierbeck, you have too good an opinion of my sense to imagine I have the least faith in such a story?" A shudder passed over the poor gentleman's frame.
"Would you be very happy, Lenora," asked De Vlierbeck, with a smile, "if Gustave were betrothed to you?" "Never to leave him!" cried Lenora, "to love him, to be the happiness of his life, his consolation, his joy, to enliven the solitude of Grinselhof by our love! ah! that, father, would be delight indeed; for then there would be two of us to contribute to the pleasures of your life!
Go now; quit Grinselhof this time without seeing Lenora, for you ought not to meet her until this affair is settled. I will tell her myself whatever I think proper for her to know." Half pleased, half sad, his heart divided between joy and anxiety, Gustave bade farewell to Lenora's father and returned to Echelpoel.
The carrier inquired of Farmer John where the old proprietor of Grinselhof had fixed his residence; but neither from him, the notary, nor any one else in the neighborhood, could he discover the bankrupt's retreat.
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