The principal notary in Bourges was requested by Rouget to get him a loan of one hundred and forty thousand francs on his landed estate.

Nothing was known at Issoudun of these proceedings, which were secretly and cleverly carried out.
Maxence, who was a good rider, went with his own horse to Bourges and back between five in the morning and five in the afternoon.

Flore never left the old bachelor.

Rouget consented without objection to the action Flore dictated to him; but he insisted that the investment in the Funds, producing fifty thousand francs a year, should stand in Flore's name as holding a life-interest only, and in his as owner of the principal.

The tenacity the old man displayed in the domestic disputes which this idea created caused Max a good deal of anxiety; he thought he could see the result of reflections inspired by the sight of the natural heirs.
Amid all these movements, which Max concealed from the knowledge of everyone, he forgot the Spaniard and his granary.