Modesty is to her--above all to you, my Ursula,--the insurmountable barrier which protects the secrets of her heart.

Your hesitation in confiding to me these first emotions shows me you would suffer cruel torture rather than admit to Savinien--" "Oh, yes!" she said.
"But, my child, you must do more.

You must repress these feelings; you must forget them." "Why ?" "Because, my darling, you must love only the man you marry; and, even if Monsieur Savinien de Portenduere loved you--" "I never thought of it." "But listen: even if he loved you, even if his mother asked me to give him your hand, I should not consent to the marriage until I had subjected him to a long and thorough probation.

His conduct has been such as to make families distrust him and to put obstacles between himself and heiresses which cannot be easily overcome." A soft smile came in place of tears on Ursula's sweet face as she said, "Then poverty is good sometimes." The doctor could find no answer to such innocence.
"What has he done, godfather ?" she asked.
"In two years, my treasure, he has incurred one hundred and twenty thousand francs of debt.

He has had the folly to get himself locked up in Saint-Pelagie, the debtor's prison; an impropriety which will always be, in these days, a discredit to him.