The Sprightly Romance of Marsac by Molly Elliot Seawell

Marsac returned within three hours, to be confronted by Fontaine with a pale face and Uncle Maurice's letter.

For once, Marsac was staggered. The paragraph was already in print, and the afternoon papers containing it were being cried on the street. He read the letter carefully, then laid it down, saying, "It is impossible that he should return. Living on fifteen cents a day for twenty years must have impaired his constitution to that degree that he cannot stand the voyage."