Up to the present the conduct of poor Norbert had been blameless, but now, without knowing anything of the Counsellor's character or reputation, he poured out all the secret sorrows of his heart, while Daumon chuckled secretly, preserving all the time the imperturbable face of a physician called in to visit a patient.
"Dear me! dear me!" said he; "this is really too bad.

Poor fellow! I really pity you.

Were it not for the deep respect that I have for the Duke, your father, I should feel inclined to say that he was not quite in his right senses." "Yes," continued Norbert, the tears starting to his eyes, "this is just how I am situated.

My destiny has been marked out for me, and I am helpless to alter it.

I had better a thousand times be lying under the cold greensward, than vegetate thus above ground." The peculiar smile on Daumon's lips caused him to pause in his complaint.
"Perhaps," he went on, "you think that I am childish in talking thus ?" "Not at all, Marquis, you have suffered too deeply; but forgive me if I say that you are foolish to despond so much over the future that lies before you." "Future!" repeated Norbert angrily, "what is the use of speaking to me of the future, when I may be kept in this horrible servitude for the next thirty years?
My father is still hale and hearty." "What of that?
You will be of age soon, and then you will have full right to claim your mother's fortune." The extreme surprise displayed by Norbert at this intelligence convinced the Counsellor that he was much more unsophisticated than he had supposed him to be.
"A man," continued he, "can, when he attains his majority, dispose of his inheritance as he thinks fit, and your mother's fortune will render you independent of your father." "But I should never dare to claim it; how could I venture to do so ?" "You need not make the application personally; your solicitor would manage all that for you; but, of course, you must wait until you are of age." "But I cannot wait until then," said Norbert; "I must at once free myself from this tyranny." "Luckily there are ways." "Do you really think so, Daumon ?" "Yes, and I will show you what is done every day.