The country people, too bewildered to think, did not answer.

She recovered her breath, and continued: "We are alone, my husband and I.
We would keep it. Are you willing?"

The peasant woman began to understand. She asked:

"You want to take Charlot from us? Oh, no, indeed!"

Then M. d'Hubieres intervened:

"My wife has not made her meaning clear. We wish to adopt him, but he
will come back to see you. If he turns out well, as there is every reason
to expect, he will be our heir. If we, perchance, should have children,
he will share equally with them; but if he should not reward our care, we
should give him, when he comes of age, a sum of twenty thousand francs,
which shall be deposited immediately in his name, with a lawyer. As we
have thought also of you, we should pay you, until your death, a pension
of one hundred francs a month. Do you understand me?"

The woman had arisen, furious.

"You want me to sell you Charlot? Oh, no, that's not the sort of thing to
ask of a mother! Oh, no! That would be an abomination!"

The man, grave and deliberate, said nothing; but approved of what his
wife said by a continued nodding of his head.

Madame d'Hubieres, in dismay, began to weep; turning to her husband, with
a voice full of tears, the voice of a child used to having all its wishes