oom full of people, who talked to
him while he was dressing, and to whom he replied with his face in his
wash-bowl. If, by any miracle, de Gery caught him for a second, he
would run away or cut him short with a: "Not now, I beg you." At last
the young man resorted to heroic measures.

One morning about five o'clock, Jansoulet, on returning from his club,
found on the table beside his bed a little note which he took at first
for one of the anonymous denunciations which he received every day. It
was a denunciation, in very truth, but signed, written with the utmost
frankness, breathing the loyalty and youthful seriousness of the man
who wrote it. De Gery set before him very clearly all the infamous
schemes, all the speculations by which he was surrounded. He called the
rascals by their names, without circumlocution. There was not one among
the ordinary habitues of the house who was not a suspicious character,
not one who came there for any other purpose than to steal or lie. From
attic to cellar, pillage and waste. Bois-l'Hery's horses were unsound,
the Schwalbach gallery a fraud, Moessard's articles notorious
blackmail. De Gery had drawn up a long detailed list of those impudent
frauds, with proofs in support of his allegations; but he commended
especially to Jansoulet's attention the matter of the _Caisse
Territoriale_, as the really dangerous element in his situation. In the
other matters money alone was at risk; in this, honor was involved.
Attracted by the Nabob's name, by his title of president of the
council, hundreds of stockholders had walked into that infamous trap,
seeking gold in the footsteps of that lucky miner. That fact imposed a
terrible responsibility upon him which he would understand by reading
the memorandum relating to the concern, which was falsehood and fraud,
pure and simple, from beginning to end.

"You will find the memorandum to which I refer," said Paul de Gery in
conclusion, "in the first drawer in my desk. Various receipts are
affixed to it. I have not put it in your room, because I am distrustful
of Noel as of all the rest. To-night, when I go away, I will hand you
the key. For I am going away, my dear friend and benefactor, I am going
away, overflowing with gratitude for the benefits you have conferred on
me, and in despair because your blind confidence has prevented me from
repaying them in part. My conscience as a man of honor would reproach
me were I to remain longer useless at my post