The Count of Monte Cristo

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therefore proceed. I have proposed to you to marry, not for your sake,
for indeed I did not think of you in the least at the moment (you admire
candor, and will now be satisfied, I hope); but because it suited me
to marry you as soon as possible, on account of certain commercial
speculations I am desirous of entering into." Eugenie became uneasy.

"It is just as I tell you, I assure you, and you must not be angry with
me, for you have sought this disclosure. I do not willingly enter into
arithmetical explanations with an artist like you, who fears to enter my
study lest she should imbibe disagreeable or anti-poetic impressions and
sensations. But in that same banker's study, where you very willingly
presented yourself yesterday to ask for the thousand francs I give you
monthly for pocket-money, you must know, my dear young lady, that many
things may be learned, useful even to a girl who will not marry.
There one may learn, for instance, what, out of regard to your nervous
susceptibility, I will inform you of in the drawing-room, namely, that
the credit of a banker is his physical and moral life; that credit