As I tell thee, I am happy;
decidedly, I am happy, and from this affirmation I fancy you can
construct the rest. Shall I help thee a little? Take three adorable
girls . . . three, my good Prosper--the mystic number--neither more nor
less. Take them and place thy insatiable little Leon in the midst of
them! Is the situation sufficiently indicated, and do you apprehend the
motives of my felicity?
You expected, perhaps, I was going to tell you that I had made my
fortune, or that the Uncle Blondeau had at last decided to return into
the breast of nature, after having constituted me his universal legatee.
But I needn't remind you that women are always for something in the
happiness of him who writes to thee--for something in his happiness, and
for a good deal more in his misery. But don't let me talk of misery now;
time enough when it comes; _ces demoiselles_ have gone to join the
serried ranks of their amiable predecessors. Excuse me--I comprehend
your impatience. I will tell you of whom _ces demoiselles_ consist.
You have heard me speak of my _cousine_ de Maisonrouge, that grande
_belle femme_, who, after having married, _en secondes_ noces--there had
been, to tell the truth, some irregularity about her first union--a
venerable relic of the old noblesse of Poitou, was left, by the death of
her husband, complicated by the indulgence of expensive tastes on an
income of 17,000 francs, on the pavement of Paris, with two little demons
of daughters to bring up in the path of virtue.
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