Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: July 9, 2025
The insults which her father heaped upon her when he surprised her with Daniel had unsettled her mind completely. For Count Ville-Handry, acting under a kind of overexcitement, had that day lost all self-control, and forgot himself so far as to treat his daughter as no gentleman would have treated his child while in his senses, and that in the presence of his servants!
And, that there may be no misunderstanding, I will mention the precise terms: if you will swear to be kind to Henrietta during my absence, to protect her against violence on the part of her father, and never to force her to act contrary to her sentiments for me, I will give you, in return, my word that I shall give up to you, without dispute and without reserve, the whole immense fortune possessed by Count Ville-Handry."
In the morning I went out to make some purchases; later, knowing that the Duchess of Champdoce is a little unwell, and does not go out, I went to lunch with her; after that, as the weather was so fine" Count Ville-Handry could endure it no longer. Seizing his daughter by the wrists, he lifted her bodily, and, dragging her up to the Countess Sarah, he hurled out,
Count Ville-Handry looked at it with pity; then, forgetting that he had introduced Daniel already the night before at the opera, he presented him once more; and, when the ceremony was over, he said to Sir Thorn, "Upon my word, I am almost ashamed to appear so early; but I knew you expected company to-night." "Oh, only a few persons!" "And I desired to see you for a few moments alone."
"You have seen Mrs. Chevassat?" "I come from her just now. She is quite at her ease. I am sure she has not the slightest doubt that Miss Ville-Handry has killed herself; and she goes religiously every morning to the Morgue." Henrietta shuddered. "And M. de Brevan?" she asked. Papa Ravinet looked troubled. "Ah, I don't feel so safe there," he replied.
I know you to be a man of honor and of high principles; I know how, in order to save a name which you revere, you have risked your prospects in life, the girl you love, and an enormous fortune. Yes, Miss Ville-Handry has made no ordinary choice." She looked as if she were utterly despondent, and added, in a tone of concentrated rage, "And I, I know my fate."
Daniel noticed that she incessantly filled the count's glass, a strong wine it was too, and that, in order to make him take more, she drank herself an unusual quantity. It struck twelve, and Count Ville-Handry got up. "Well," he said with the air and the voice of a man who braces himself to mount the scaffold, "it must be done; they are waiting for me."
This immensely wealthy man, who had never assisted his sister in her troubles, and who would have disinherited the daughter of a soldier of fortune, had been flattered by the idea of writing in his last will the name of his niece, the "high and mighty Countess Ville-Handry." This unexpected piece of good-fortune ought to have delighted the young wife.
Sarah had overcome the last hesitation which Daniel still felt. Now he was in the right temper to meet cunning with cunning. He answered in an admirably-feigned tone of indifference, "Ah!" Then, encouraged by the joyous surprise he read in Sarah's face, he went on, "This expedition has cost me dear. Count Ville-Handry has just informed me that he has lost his whole fortune.
He had his opera-hat under his arm, a camellia in his button-hole; and his light-yellow kid gloves were so tight, that it looked as if they must inevitably burst the instant he used his hands. "Count Ville-Handry!" said Daniel to himself. Somebody touched his shoulder slightly; and, as he turned round, he found it was Maxime, who said with friendly irony, "Your old friend, is it not?
Word Of The Day
Others Looking