except her youth, and beauty, and goodness.

But yet she could not absolutely consent; for was she not absolutely
pledged to her own Adolphe? And therefore, when the great pecuniary
advantages were, one by one, displayed before her, and when La Mere
Bauche, as a last argument, informed her that as wife of the
capitaine she would be regarded as second mistress in the
establishment and not as a servant, she could only burst out into
tears, and say that she did not know.

"I will be very kind to you," said the capitaine; "as kind as a man
can be."

Marie took his hard withered hand and kissed it; and then looked up
into his face with beseeching eyes which were not without avail upon
his heart.

"We will not press her now," said the capitaine. "There is time
enough."

But let his heart be touched ever so much, one thing was certain. It
could not be permitted that she should marry Adolphe. To that view
of the matter he had given in his unrestricted adhesion; nor could he
by any means withdraw it without losing altogether his position in
the establishment of Madame Bauche. Nor indeed did his conscience
tell him that such a marriage should be permitted. That would be too
much. If every pretty girl were allowed to marry the first young man
that might fall in love with her, what would the world come to?

And it soon appeared that there was not time enough--that the time