"
The stove-fitter returned to make his bow to his benefactress, and she
desired him to fetch a coach. When he came back, she begged him to
give little Atala Judici a home, and to take her away at once.
"And tell her that if she will place herself under the guidance of
Monsieur the Cure of the Madeleine, on the day when she attends her
first Communion I will give her thirty thousand francs and find her a
good husband, some worthy young man."
"My eldest son, then madame! He is two-and-twenty, and he worships the
child."
The Baron now came down; there were tears in his eyes.
"You are forcing me to desert the only creature who had ever begun to
love me at all as you do!" said he in a whisper to his wife. "She is
crying bitterly, and I cannot abandon her so--"
"Be quite easy, Hector. She will find a home with honest people, and I
will answer for her conduct."
"Well, then, I can go with you," said the Baron, escorting his wife to
the cab.
Hector, the Baron d'Ervy once more, had put on a blue coat and
trousers, a white waistcoat, a black stock, and gloves. When the
Baroness had taken her seat in the vehicle, Atala slipped in like an
eel.
"Oh, madame," she said, "let me go with you.
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