' By tact and shrewdness, you might yet
save something from your creditors. Compromise with them. And if
you need my services, here I am. Go to Nice, and give me a power
of attorney to act for you. From the debris of your fortune, I
will undertake to guarantee you a competence which would satisfy
many an ambitious man."
The marquis laughed sneeringly. "Excellent!" he exclaimed. "You
would rid yourself of me and recover your forty thousand francs at
the same time. A very clever arrangement."
M. Fortunat realized that his client understood him; but what did
it matter?" I assure you----" he began.
But the marquis silenced him with a contemptuous gesture. "Let us
stop this nonsense," said he. "We understand each other better
than that. I have never made any attempt to deceive you, nor have
I ever supposed that I had succeeded in doing so, and pray do me
the honor to consider me as shrewd as yourself." And still
refusing to listen to the agent, he continued: "If I have come to
you, it is only because the case is not so desperate as you
suppose. I still hold some valuable cards which you are ignorant
of. In your opinion, and every one else's, Mademoiselle
Marguerite is ruined. But I know that she is still worth three
millions, at the very least."
"Mademoiselle Marguerite?"
"Yes, Monsieur Twenty-per-Cent. Let her become my wife, and the
very next day I will place her in possession of an income of a
hundred and fifty thousand francs.
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