"
"Her own children? Surely she has none."
"She may have yet. She had a poor little boy, who died two years
ago, six months after his birth. Others therefore may come."
"I hope they will, if it will make her happy. She's a splendid
woman." Madame Merle failed to burst into speech. "Ah, about her
there's much to be said. Splendid as you like! We've not exactly
made out that you're a parti. The absence of vices is hardly a
source of income."
"Pardon me, I think it may be," said Rosier quite lucidly. "You'll
be a touching couple, living on your innocence!" "I think you
underrate me."
"You're not so innocent as that? Seriously," said Madame Merle,
"of course forty thousand francs a year and a nice character are a
combination to be considered. I don't say it's to be jumped at, but
there might be a worse offer. Mr. Osmond, however, will probably
incline to believe he can do better."
"He can do so perhaps; but what can his daughter do? She can't do
better than marry the man she loves. For she does, you know," Rosier
added eagerly.
"She does-I know it."
"Ah," cried the young man, "I said you were the person to come to.
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