“I will name to you several sums which will increase by gradation; you will stop me when I reach the one representing the amount of your own possessions?”
“Yes.”
There was a kind of solemnity in this interrogation. Never had the struggle between mind and matter been more apparent than now, and if it was not a sublime, it was, at least, a curious spectacle.
They had formed a circle round the invalid; the second notary was sitting at a table, prepared for writing, and his colleague was standing before the testator in the act of interrogating him on the subject to which we have alluded.
“Your fortune exceeds 300,000 francs, does it not?” asked he.
Noirtier made a sign that it did.
“Do you possess 400,000 francs?” inquired the notary.
Noirtier’s eye remained immovable.
“500,000?” The same expression continued.
“600,000—700,000—800,000—900,000?”
Noirtier stopped him at the last-named sum.
“You are then in possession of 900,000 francs?” asked the notary.
“Yes.”
“In landed property?”
“No.”
“In stock?”