But we will not be
indebted even to so tried a friend for a tittle of our happiness. The work
shall be all our own, even to the letters of nobility, which I shall
command at an early day from Vienna; for it would be cruel to let the
noble fellow want so simple an advantage, which will at once raise him to
our own level, and make him as good--ay, by the beard of Luther! better
than the best man in Berne."
"I have never known thee niggardly before, though I have known thee often
well intrenched behind Swiss frugality;" said the Signor Grimaldi,
laughing. "Thy life, my dear Melchior, may have excellent value in thine
own eyes, but I am little disposed to set so mean a price on my own, as
thou appearest to think it should command. Thou hast decided well, I will
say nobly, in the best meaning of the word, in consenting to receive this
brave Sigismund as a son; but thou art not to think, young lady, because
this body of mine is getting the worse for use, that I hold it altogether
worthless, and that it is to be dragged from yonder lake like so much foul
linen, and no questions are to be asked touching the manner in which the
service has been done.
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