"Ah ca!" she cried, "don't call me that before people. As to this affair," she continued, "I can't have any opinion until I have seen the house.""It has six storeys; nine windows on the front; a fine courtyard, four shops, and it stands on a corner. Ah! that notary knows what he is about in wishing to hold on to such pieces of property! But let political events interfere, and down go the Funds! If I were you, Ishould sell out all that you and Madame Thuillier have on the Grand Livre and buy this fine piece of real estate for Thuillier, and I'd recover the fortune of that poor, pious creature by savings from its proceeds. Can the Funds go higher than they are to-day? One hundred and twenty-two! it is fabulous; I should make haste to sell."Brigitte licked her lips; she perceived the means of keeping her own property intact, and of enriching her brother by this use of Madame Thuillier's fortune.
"My brother is right," she said to Theodose; "you certainly are a rare man; you'll get on in the world.""And he'll walk before me," responded Theodose with a naivete that touched the old maid.
"You will live in the family," she said.
"There may be obstacles to that," he remarked. "Madame Thuillier is very queer at times; she doesn't like me.""Ha! I'll settle that," cried Brigitte. "Do you attend to that affair and carry it through if it is feasible, and leave your interests in my hands.""Thuillier, member of the municipal council, owner of an estate with a rental of forty thousand francs a year, with the cross of the Legion of honor and the author of a political work, grave, serious, important, will be deputy at the forthcoming general election. But, between ourselves, little aunt, one couldn't devote one's self so utterly except for a father-in-law.""You are right."
"Though I have no fortune I shall have doubled yours; and if this affair goes through discreetly, others will turn up.""Until I have seen the house," said Mademoiselle Thuillier again, "Ican decide on nothing."
"Well then, send for a carriage to-morrow and let us go there. I will get a ticket early in the morning to view the premises.""To-morrow, then, about mid-day," responded Brigitte, holding out her hand to Theodose that he might shake it, but instead of that he laid upon it the most respectful and the most tender kiss that Brigitte had ever in her life received.
"Adieu, my child," she said, as he reached the door.
She rang the bell hurriedly and when the servant came:--"Josephine," she cried, "go at once to Madame Colleville, and ask her to come over and speak to me."Fifteen minutes later Flavie entered the salon, where Brigitte was walking up and down, in a state of extreme agitation.
"My dear," she cried on seeing Flavie, "you can do me a great service, which concerns our dear Celeste. You know Tullia, don't you?--a danseuse at the opera; my brother was always dinning her into my ears at one time.""Yes, I know her; but she is no longer a danseuse; she is Madame la Comtesse du Bruel. Her husband is peer of France!""Does she still like you?"
"We never see each other now."