I have been stripped of everything; and
but for the self-sacrificing attachment of a faithful servant, I must
have died of want. However, I have still one resource, and only one. I
know not if I am right in availing myself of it, but at my age the
power to struggle fails. Besides, do not suffer alone; and this
consideration decides me. Will you, then, have the goodness to give me
a loan on this jewel?'
'I believe, madame, you have mistaken me for a pawnbroker. I am not in
the habit of advancing money in this way. I am myself very poor, and
money is now everywhere scarce. I should be very glad to be able to
oblige you, but just at present it is quite out of the question.'
For a moment the poor abbess felt all hope extinct; but with a last
effort to move his compassion, she said: 'Oh, sir, remember that
secrecy is of such importance to me, I dare not apply to any one else.
The privacy, the obscurity in which I live, alone has prevented me
from paying with my blood the penalty attached to a noble name and
lineage.'
'But how am I to ascertain the value of the jewel? I am no jeweller;
and I fear, in my ignorance, to wrong either you or myself.
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