"
"I wouldn't agitate her-only to agitate her; I love her too much for
that," said Ned Rosier.
"I'm glad, after all, that you've told me," Madame Merle went on.
"Leave it to me a little; I think I can help you."
"I said you were the person to come to!" her visitor cried with
prompt elation.
"You were very clever," Madame Merle returned more dryly. "When I
say I can help you I mean once assuming your cause to be good. Let
us think a little if it is."
"I'm awfully decent, you know," said Rosier earnestly. "I won't
say I've no faults, but I'll say I've no vices."
"All that's negative, and it always depends, also, on what people
call vices. What's the positive side? What's the virtuous? What have
you got besides your Spanish lace and your Dresden teacups?"
"I've a comfortable little fortune-about forty thousand francs a
year. With the talent I have for arranging, we can live beautifully on
such an income."
"Beautifully, no. Sufficiently, yes. Even that depends on where
you live."
"Well, in Paris. I would undertake it in Paris."
Madame Merle's mouth rose to the left. "It wouldn't be famous; you'd
have to make use of the teacups, and they'd get broken.
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