My mother thought so." "Cousin," he cried, with the earnestness of a man who sees a fortune escaping him, "you commit suicide; you fling your mother's property into a gulf.

Well, I will prove the devotion I feel for you: you know not how I love you.

I have admired you from the day of that last ball, three years ago; you were enchanting.

Trust the voice of love when it speaks to you of your own interests, Marguerite." He paused.

"Yes, we must call a family council and emancipate you--without consulting you," he added.
"But what is it to be emancipated ?" "It is to enjoy your own rights." "If I can be emancipated without being married, why do you want me to marry?
and whom should I marry ?" Pierquin tried to look tenderly at his cousin, but the expression contrasted so strongly with his hard eyes, usually fixed on money, that Marguerite discovered the self-interest in his improvised tenderness.
"You would marry the person who--pleases you--the most," he said.