the catastrophe which threatens you, and which will pass over without affecting her; she has taken care for herself, at least I hope so, for her attention has not been diverted from her projects by watching over me; she has left me my entire independence by professedly indulging my love for liberty. Oh! no, sir; from my childhood I have seen too much, and understood too much, of what has passed around me, for misfortune to have an undue power over me; from my earliest recollections, I have been beloved by no one―so much the worse; that has naturally led me to love no one―so much the better; now you have my profession of faith."
"Then," said Danglars, pale with anger, which did not emanate from offended paternal love,―"then, mademoiselle, you persist in your determination to accelerate my ruin?"
"Your ruin? I accelerate your ruin! what do you mean? I do not understand you."
"So much the better, I have a ray of hope left: listen."
"I am all attention," said Eugénie, looking so earnestly at her father, that it was an effort to the latter to bear her powerful gaze.
"M. Cavalcanti," continued Danglars, "is about to marry you, and will place in my hands his fortune, amounting to three million livres."
"That is admirable!" said Eugénie, with sovereign contempt, smoothing her gloves out one upon the other.
"You think I shall deprive you of those three millions," said Danglars; "but do not fear it. They are destined to produce at least ten. I and a brother banker have obtained a grant of a railway, the only speculation which in the present day offers any prospect of immediate success, like the chimerical Mississippi, which Law formerly supplied for the good Parisians, those eternal gulls in speculation. In my reckoning, a man now ought to have a millionth of a railway, as we used to have an acre of unimproved land upon the banks of the Ohio. It is a hypothecation, which is an advance, as you see, since we gain at least ten, fifteen, twenty, or a hundred pounds of iron in exchange for our money. Well, within a week I am to deposit four millions for my share; these four millions, I promise you, will produce ten or twelve."
"But during my visit to you the day before yesterday, sir, which you appear to recollect so well," replied Eugénie, "I saw you enter in your accounts―is not that the term?―five millions and a half; you even pointed them out to me in two drafts on the treasury, and you were astonished that so valuable a paper did not dazzle my eyes like lightning."
"Yes, but those five millions and a half are not mine, and are only a proof of the great confidence placed in me; my title of popular banker
