Ha! ha! I saw their first irruption into the square; they were as busy as ants who have lost their eggs." "What did I tell you, Ursula ?" cried the doctor.

"At the risk of grieving you, my child, I must teach you to know the world and put you on your guard against undeserved enmity." "I should like to say a word to you on this subject," said Bongrand, seizing the occasion to speak to his old friend of Ursula's future.
The doctor put a black velvet cap on his white head, the justice of peace wore his hat to protect him from the night air, and they walked up and down the terrace discussing the means of securing to Ursula what her godfather intended to bequeath her.

Bongrand knew Dionis's opinion as to the invalidity of a will made by the doctor in favor of Ursula; for Nemours was so preoccupied with the Minoret affairs that the matter had been much discussed among the lawyers of the little town.

Bongrand considered that Ursula was not a relative of Doctor Minoret, but he felt that the whole spirit of legislation was against the foisting into families of illegitimate off-shoots.

The makers of the Code had foreseen only the weakness of fathers and mothers for their natural children, without considering that uncles and aunts might have a like tenderness and a desire to provide for such children.