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Updated: May 6, 2025
I believe I have treated the sailor who brought him on board a little roughly; but I am going to order him a glass of brandy, which will set him right again." Thereupon the captain discreetly withdrew; while Papa Ravinet continued, "You will tell me, M. Champcey, that it would have been simpler to wait for you in port, and hand you my letter of introduction there.
Quite beside herself, she had clasped the knob of the door in her hands, and tried with all the strength she still possessed to move the old lady out of the way. But Papa Ravinet seized her by the arm, and said to her solemnly, "Madam, I swear to you by all you hold sacred, and my sister will swear to you in like manner, that your father's life is in no kind of danger."
I should never forgive myself for becoming a source of still greater privations to such very kind friends." But the old lady shook her head, and replied, "Don't be afraid, child. We have money enough." They had just lighted the lamp, when they heard a key in the outer door; and a moment later Papa Ravinet appeared.
The misfortune is, that house and lot are burdened with mortgages, which amount together to nearly a hundred thousand dollars." Henrietta was overcome, and had sunk into a chair. "But that is simply infamous," she stammered out in an almost inaudible tone. "Nobody will believe such atrocious libels." Pale and deeply grieved, Papa Ravinet and his sister exchanged looks of distress.
"It was Sarah who had broken the bar, and loosened the wooden rods; she had, no doubt, been watching for months to see her benefactor fall and kill himself." Papa Ravinet shook his head. "I do not say that," he said; "and, at all events, it would be impossible to prove it at this time, I mean, to prove it against her denial. It is certain that no one suspected Sarah.
Towards the end of last December, however, on a Saturday afternoon, towards five o'clock, husband and wife were just sitting down to dinner, when the dealer in old clothes, Papa Ravinet, rushed like a tempest into their room. He was a man of middle size, clean shaven, with small, bright, yellowish eyes, which shone with restless eagerness from under thick, bushy brows.
How could they have become aware of the flight of time, as long as all their faculties were bent upon the immense interests that were at stake? On the struggle which they were about to undertake depended Count Ville-Handry's life and honor, and the happiness and whole future life of Daniel and Henrietta. And Papa Ravinet and his sister had said, "As for us, even more than that depends upon it."
And boldly the strange man plunged into the dark room; and almost instantly the noise of breaking glass was heard. A moment later, and the air in the room had become once more fit for breathing, and everybody rushed in. Alas! it was the death-rattle which M. Ravinet had heard.
Thinking that Henrietta might possibly occupy a room on the same floor with him, on the same side of the house, that he might even be separated from her only by a partition-wall, he felt like cursing Papa Ravinet, when there came a knock at the door. "Come in!" he cried. A waiter appeared, and handed him a visiting-card, on which was written, "Mrs. Bertolle, third story. No. 5."
"Well, my dear M. Champcey, I am no longer troubled about getting more, since I have found out that the Countess Sarah is in love with you." Now Daniel began to understand the part Papa Ravinet expected him to play. Still he did not object; he bowed his head under the clear eye of Henrietta, and said in a low voice, "I will do what you wish me to do, sir."
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