"I owe the sum of four hundred and sixty-eight thousand francs. Oh! what
a miserable wretch I am!

"When I found that the smash was inevitable I went mad, and entered my
room with the intention of putting an end to my wretched existence. But
more sober thoughts prevailed: I changed my mind. I had heard that
officers were being recruited for Tonquin, and I determined to volunteer
for this service. My suicide would not have bettered matters; it would
rather have left an added blot upon our family name. Out there, at all
events, my death may be of use; it will cause you no shame, and may
perhaps move you to a little compassion for your guilty, but most
unhappy and despairing son, who suffers agonies at thought of the
trouble he has brought upon you, and who now bids you an
eternal farewell!

"CAMILLE SAUVALLIER."

Mons. Sauvallier, who had been a widower for several years past, was one
of the most respected business-men of Paris, the owner of a foundry, a
judge of the Tribunal of Commerce, and an officer of the Legion of
Honour. He had two sons: Camille, the lieutenant: and August, an artist
of some originality, who was the husband of a charming wife, and the
father of a little six-year-old maiden named Andrée. Mons. Sauvallier
had always deterred his sons from embarking in trade. He had shrunk from
exposing them to the ups and downs of business life, its trying
fluctuations, its frequent cruel mischances. He had arranged that at his
death his estate should be realized: he did not wish the business to be
sold outright, in case it should pass into the hands of strangers who
might sully the hitherto unblemished name of Sauvallier.