"A noble man!" cried the president, interrupting his uncle."Certainly," answered the old man, "my b-b-brother's name wasG-G-Grandet, like m-m-mine. Th-that's c-c-certain; I d-d-don'td-d-deny it. And th-th-this l-l-liquidation might be, in m-m-manyways, v-v-very advan-t-t-tageous t-t-to the interests of m-m-myn-n-nephew, whom I l-l-love. But I must consider. I don't k-k-know thet-t-tricks of P-P-Paris. I b-b-belong to Sau-m-mur, d-d-don't you see?M-m-my vines, my d-d-drains--in short, I've my own b-b-business. Inever g-g-give n-n-notes. What are n-n-notes? I t-t-take a goodm-m-many, but I have never s-s-signed one. I d-d-don't understand suchthings. I have h-h-heard say that n-n-notes c-c-can be b-b-bought up.""Of course," said the president. "Notes can be bought in the market,less so much per cent. Don't you understand?"

　　"Yes, my dear, generous master; it has been killed two days.""Come, Nanon, bestir yourself," said Grandet; "take these things,they'll do for dinner. I have invited the two Cruchots."

　　"To fail," answered her father, "is to commit the most dishonorableaction that can disgrace a man."

　　"Dear cousin!" whispered Eugenie, throwing down the letter and runningsoftly back to her room, carrying one of the lighted candles. A thrillof pleasure passed over her as she opened the drawer of an old oakcabinet, a fine specimen of the period called the Renaissance, onwhich could still be seen, partly effaced, the famous royalsalamander. She took from the drawer a large purse of red velvet withgold tassels, edged with a tarnished fringe of gold wire,--a relicinherited from her grandmother. She weighed it proudly in her hand,and began with delight to count over the forgotten items of her littlehoard. First she took out twenty /portugaises/, still new, struck inthe reign of John V., 1725, worth by exchange, as her father told her,five /lisbonnines/, or a hundred and sixty-eight francs, sixty-fourcentimes each; their conventional value, however, was a hundred andeighty francs apiece, on account of the rarity and beauty of thecoins, which shone like little suns. Item, five /genovines/, or fivehundred-franc pieces of Genoa; another very rare coin worth eighty-seven francs on exchange, but a hundred francs to collectors. Thesehad formerly belonged to old Monsieur de la Bertelliere. Item, threegold /quadruples/, Spanish, of Philip V., struck in 1729, given to herone by one by Madame Gentillet, who never failed to say, using thesame words, when she made the gift, "This dear little canary, thislittle yellow-boy, is worth ninety-eight francs! Keep it, my prettyone, it will be the flower of your treasure." Item (that which herfather valued most of all, the gold of these coins being twenty-threecarats and a fraction), a hundred Dutch ducats, made in the year 1756,and worth thirteen francs apiece. Item, a great curiosity, a speciesof medal precious to the soul of misers,--three rupees with the signof the Scales, and five rupees with the sign of the Virgin, all inpure gold of twenty-four carats; the magnificent money of the GreatMogul, each of which was worth by mere weight thirty-seven francs,forty centimes, but at least fifty francs to those connoisseurs wholove to handle gold. Item, the napoleon of forty francs received theday before, which she had forgotten to put away in the velvet purse.This treasure was all in virgin coins, true works of art, whichGrandet from time to time inquired after and asked to see, pointingout to his daughter their intrinsic merits,--such as the beauty of themilled edge, the clearness of the flat surface, the richness of thelettering, whose angles were not yet rubbed off.

　　"Get me some black-currant ratafia."