"I! Great heavens!" I exclaimed. "Not wish to marry her--when for seven
years I have had no other thought; when that is the one wish of my
heart, and the only happiness my mind can conceive!"

Then I poured forth all the thoughts that the sincerest passion could
suggest. She listened to me in silence, and without withdrawing her
hands, which I covered with kisses. But there was a serious expression
in her eyes, and the tone of her voice made me tremble when, after
reflecting a few moments, she said:

"Father, you should not doubt my word; I have promised to marry Bernard;
I promised him, and I promised you; it is certain, therefore, that I
shall marry him."

Then she added, after a fresh pause, and in a still severe tone:

"But if, father, you believe that you are on the brink of the grave,
what sort of heart do you suppose I can have, that you bid me think only
of myself, and put on my wedding-dress in the hour of mourning for you?
If, on the contrary, you are, as I believe, still full of vigour, in
spite of your sufferings, and destined to enjoy the love of your family
for many a long year yet, why do you urge me so imperiously to cut
short the time I have requested? Is not the question important enough
to demand my most serious reflection? A contract which is to bind me for
the rest of my life, and on which depends, I do not say my happiness,
for that I would gladly sacrifice to your least wish, but the peace
of my conscience and the dignity of my conduct (since no woman can
be sufficiently sure of herself to answer for a future which has been
fettered against her will), does not such a contract bid me weigh all
its risks and all its advantages for several years at least?"