I judge
them to be in comfortable circumstances. Pascal has the
reputation of being a remarkable man, and people supposed he would
rise very high in his profession."
"But now he is ruined; his career is finished."
"Certainly! You can be quite sure that by this evening all Paris
will know what occurred here last night."
He paused, meeting Madame Argeles's look of withering scorn with a
cleverly assumed air of astonishment. "You are a villain!
Monsieur de Coralth," she said, indignantly.
"I--and why?"
"Because it was you who slipped those cards, which made M.
Ferailleur win, into the pack; I saw you do it! And yielding to my
entreaties, the young fellow was about to leave the house when
you, intentionally, prevented him from saving himself. Oh! don't
deny it."
M. de Coralth rose in the coolest possible manner. "I deny
nothing, my dear lady," he replied, "absolutely nothing. You and
I understand each other."
Confounded by his unblushing impudence, Madame d'Argeles remained
speechless for a moment. "You confess it!" she cried, at last.
"You dare to confess it! Were you not afraid that I might speak
and state what I had seen?"
He shrugged his shoulders. "No one would have believed you," he
exclaimed.
"Yes, I should have been believed, Monsieur de Coralth, for I
could have given proofs. You must have forgotten that I know you,
that your past life is no secret to me, that I know who you are,
and what dishonored name you hide beneath your borrowed title! I
could have told my guests that you are married--that you have
abandoned your wife and child, leaving them to perish in want and
misery--I could have told them where you obtain the thirty or
forty thousand francs you spend each year.
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