"Unluckily I cannot, I am only a poor fellow, but some of the
neighboring farmers intrust me with their savings for investment. Why
should I not use them to make you comfortable and happy?"

Norbert was almost choked with emotion. "Can this be done?" asked he
eagerly.

"Yes, Marquis; but you understand that you will have to pay very heavy
interest on account of the risk incurred in lending money to a minor.
For the law does not recognize such transactions, and I myself do not
like them. If I were in your place, I would not borrow money on these
terms, but wait until some friend could help me."

"I have no friends," again answered the young man.

Daumon shrugged his shoulders with the air of a man who says: "Well, I
suppose I must give in, but at any rate I have done my duty." Then
he began aloud, "I am perfectly aware, Marquis, that, considering the
wealth that must one day be yours, this transaction is a most paltry
one."

He then went on to enumerate the conditions of the loan, and at each
clause he would stop and say, "Do you understand this?"

Norbert understood him so well that at the end of the conversation,
in exchange for the thousand francs, he handed to the Counsellor the
promissory notes for four thousand francs each, which were made payable
to two farmers, who were entirely in Daumon's clutches. The young
man, in addition, pledged his solemn word of honor that he would never
disclose that the Counsellor had anything to do with the transaction.