man. Eugenie will none the less be your wife."

In a few moments the news of Grandet's magnanimous resolve was

disseminated in three houses at the same moment, and the whole town

began to talk of his fraternal devotion. Every one forgave Grandet for

the sale made in defiance of the good faith pledged to the community;

they admired his sense of honor, and began to laud a generosity of

which they had never thought him capable. It is part of the French

nature to grow enthusiastic, or angry, or fervent about some meteor of