In the end this is what he wrote:
Monsieur my godfather - You make refusal singularly hard for me when
you appeal to me upon the ground of affection. It is a thing of
which all my life I shall hail the opportunity to give you proofs,
and I am therefore desolated beyond anything I could hope to express
that I cannot give you the proof you ask to-day. There is too much
between M. de La Tour d'Azyr and me. Also you do me and my class
- whatever it may be - less than justice when you say that
obligations of honour are not binding upon us. So binding do I
count them, that, if I would, I could not now draw back.
If hereafter you should persist in the harsh intention you express,
I must suffer it. That I shall suffer be assured.
Your affectionate and grateful godson
Andre-Louis
He dispatched that letter by M. de Kercadiou's groom, and conceived
this to be the end of the matter. It cut him keenly; but he bore
the wound with that outward stoicism he affected.
Next morning, at a quarter past eight, as with Le Chapelier - who
had come to break his fast with him - he was rising from table to
set out for the Bois, his housekeeper startled him by announcing
Mademoiselle de Kercadiou.
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