the baron is very
short of money just now."

"Nonsense! a man worth seven or eight millions of francs."

"I should say ten millions, at least."

"Then the excuse is all the more absurd."

Pascal shrugged his shoulders disdainfully. "It astonishes me, Monsieur
le Marquis, to hear YOU speak in this way. It is not the magnitude of
a man's income that constitutes affluence, but rather the way in which
that income is spent. In this foolish age, almost all rich people are
in arrears. What income does the baron derive from his ten millions of
francs? Not more than five hundred thousand. A very handsome fortune, no
doubt, and I should be more than content with it. But the baron
gambles, and the baroness is the most elegant--in other words, the most
extravagant--woman in Paris. They both of them love luxury, and their
establishment is kept up in princely style. What are five hundred
thousand francs under such circumstances as those? Their situation must
be something like that of several millionaires of my acquaintance, who
are obliged to take their silver to the pawn-broker's while waiting for
their rents to fall due."

This excuse might not be true, but it was certainly a very plausible
one. Had not a recent lawsuit revealed the fact that certain rich folks,
who had an income of more than a hundred thousand francs a year, had
kept a thieving coachman for six months, simply because, in all that
time, they were not able to raise the eight hundred francs they owed
him, and which must be paid before he was dismissed? M. de Valorsay knew
this, but a terrible disquietude seized him. Had people begun to suspect
HIS embarrassment? Had any rumor of it reached Baron Trigault's ears?
This was what he wished to ascertain. "Let us understand each other,
Monsieur Maumejan," said he; "the baron was unable to procure this money
he had promised me to-day--but when will he let me have it?"

Pascal opened his eyes in pretended astonishment, and it was with an air
of the utmost simplicity that he replied, "I concluded the baron would
take no further action in the matter. I judged so from his parting
words: 'It consoles me a little,' he said, 'to think that the Marquis
de Valorsay is very rich and very well known, and that he has a dozen
friends who will be delighted to do him this trifling service.'"

Until now, M. de Valorsay had cherished a hope that the loan was only
delayed, and the certainty that the decision was final, crushed him. "M