'Do you imagine，'she continued，as persistent as any woman who is entitled to say：'I was right！''do you imagine that it's enough to love each other and go off to the country and live some dreamy，rustic life？Oh no，my dear.Alongside the ideal life，there's the necessities to think of，and the purest designs are earthbound，secured by threads which，ludicrous though they may be，are made of steel and cannot be easily snapped.If Marguerite hasn't deceived you twenty times and more it's because she has an exceptional nature.It's not her fault if I advised her to do so，because it grieved me to see the poor girl strip herself of everything.And she wouldn't have anything to do with it！She told me she loved you and wouldn't deceive you for anything.All that's very nice，very poetic，but it's not coin you can pay off criditors with.And now she's reached the stage where she won't get away with it unless she comes up with，let me say it again，thirty thousand francs.'
'It's all right.I'll find the money.'
'You'll borrow it？'
'But of course.'
'Now that would be really clever.You'll fall out with your father，tie up your allowance and，anyway，you can't just come up with thirty thousand francs from one day to the next.Take it from me，my dear Armand，I know women better than you do.Don't do it：it would be sheer folly and you'd regret it some day.Be reasonable.I don't say you should leave Marguerite；just live with her on the same footing as at the start of the summer.Let her find ways out of this mess.The Duke will come round gradually.Count de N，if she takes him on，he was telling me just yesterday，will pay all her debts and give her four or five thousand francs a month.He's got two hundred thousand livres a year.She'll be set up，whereas you're going to have to leave her in any case：don't wait until you're ruined，especially since this Count de N is a fool and there'll be nothing to stop you being Marguerite's lover.She'll cry a little to start with，but she'll get used to it in the end，and she'll thank you one day for what you did.Tell yourself that Marguerite's married，and then deceive her husband.That's all there's to it.'
'I've already told you all this once.But then I was just giving you advice.Today，you've got very little option.'
Prudence was right，cruelly right.
'That's how it is，'she continued，shutting away the papers she had just shown me.'Kept women always expect that there'll be men around who'll love them，but they never imagine that they themselves will fall in love.Otherwise，they'd put a bit to one side and，by the time they're thirty，they'd be able to afford the luxury of taking a lover who pays nothing.If only I'd known once what I know once what I know now！But that's by the by.Don't say anything to Marguerite；just bring her back to Paris.You've had four or five months alone with her，which isn't bad.Turn a blind eye，that's all you're asked to do.Within a fortnight，she'll take on Count de N，she'll put some money by this winter，and then next summer you can pick up where you left off.That's how it's done，my dear！'
Prudence seemed delighted with her advice，which I rejected indignantly.
Not only did love and self-respect make it impossible for me to act along these lines，but I was further convinced that，having got to the stage she had now reached，Marguerite would rather die than accept such an arrangement.
'Enough of this nonsense，'I told Prudence.'How much exactly does Marguerite need？'
'I told you.Around thirty thousand francs.'
'And when must she have it？'
'Within two months.'
'She'll have it.'
Prudence shrugged her shoulders.
'I'll get it to you，'I continued.'But you must swear you'll never tell Marguerite that I gave it to you.'
'Don't worry，I won't.'
'And if she sends you anything else to sell or pawn，let me know.'
'There's no danger of that.She's got nothing left.'
From there，I went to my apartment to see if there were any letters from my father.
There were four.
