The Count of Monte Cristo

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"So that, but for this marriage, she would have been your heir?"

"Yes." There was a profound silence. The two notaries were holding
a consultation as to the best means of proceeding with the affair.
Valentine was looking at her grandfather with a smile of intense
gratitude, and Villefort was biting his lips with vexation, while Madame
de Villefort could not succeed in repressing an inward feeling of joy,
which, in spite of herself, appeared in her whole countenance. "But,"
said Villefort, who was the first to break the silence, "I consider that
I am the best judge of the propriety of the marriage in question. I am
the only person possessing the right to dispose of my daughter's hand.
It is my wish that she should marry M. Franz d'Epinay--and she shall
marry him." Valentine sank weeping into a chair.

"Sir," said the notary, "how do you intend disposing of your fortune in
case Mademoiselle de Villefort still determines on marrying M. Franz?"
The old man gave no answer. "You will, of course, dispose of it in some