Let us suppose, for a moment,
that some time ago you purchased, at a very high figure, a
quantity of stocks and shares, which are to-day almost worthless,
could not this unfortunate investment account for the absence of
the sum which you wish to set aside? Your creditors would be
obliged to value these securities, not at their present, but at
their former value."
"Evidently; but, unfortunately, I do not possess any such
securities."
"You can purchase them."
The coal-merchant opened his eyes in astonishment. "Excuse me,"
he muttered, "I don't exactly understand you."
He did not understand in the least; but M. Fortunat enlightened
him by opening his safe, and displaying an enormous bundle of
stocks and shares which had flooded the country a few years
previously, and ruined a great many poor, ignorant fools which
were hungering for wealth; among them were shares in the Tifila
Mining Company, the Berchem Coal Mines, the Greenland Fisheries,
the Mutual Trust and Loan Association, and so on. There had been
a time when each of these securities would have fetched five
hundred or a thousand francs at the Bourse, but now they were not
worth the paper on which they were printed.
"Let us suppose, my dear sir," resumed M. Fortunat, "that you had
a drawer full of these securities----"
But the other did not allow him to finish. "I see," he exclaimed;
"I see--I can sell my stock, and put the proceeds in my pocket
with perfect safety.
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