t or more already, Pascal had been moving about uneasily
on his chair, like a man who is waiting for an opportunity to make a
suggestion, and as soon as M. de Valorsay paused to take breath, he
exclaimed: "Upon my word! if I dared----"

"Well?"

"I would offer to obtain you these twenty-five thousand francs."

"You?"

"Yes, I."

"Before six o'clock this evening?"

"Certainly."

A glass of ice-water presented to a parched traveller while journeying
over the desert sands of Sahara could not impart greater relief and
delight than the marquis experienced on hearing Pascal's offer. He
literally felt that he was restored to life.

For ruin was inevitable if he did not succeed in obtaining twenty-five
thousand francs that day. If he could procure that amount he might
obtain a momentary respite, and to gain time was the main thing.
Moreover, the offer was a sufficient proof that his financial
difficulties were not known. "Ah! I have had a fortunate escape," he
thought. "What if I had revealed the truth!"

But he was careful to conceal the secret joy that filled his heart. He
feared lest he might say "Yes" too quickly, so betray his secret, and
place himself at the mercy of the baron's envoy. "I would willingly
accept your offer," he exclaimed, "if----"

"If what?"

"Would it be proper for me, after the baron has treated me in such a
contemptible manner, to have any dealings with one of his subordinates?"

Pascal protested vigorously. "Allow me to say," he exclaimed, "that I am
not any one's subordinate. Trigault is my client, like thirty or forty
others--nothing more. He employs me in certain difficult and delicate
negotiations, which I conduct to the best of my ability. He pays me, and
we are each of us perfectly independent of the other."

From the look which Valorsay gave Pascal, one would have sworn that he
suspected who his visitor really was. But such was not the case. It was
simply this: a strange, but by no means impossible, idea had flashed
through the marquis's mind--"Oh!" thought he, "this unknown party with
whom Maumejan offers to negotiate the loan, is probably none other
than the baron himself. That worthy gambler has invented this ingenious
method of obliging me so as to extort a rate of interest which he would
not dare to demand openly. And why not? There have been plenty of such
instances. Isn't it a well-known fact that the N---- Brothers, the
most rigidly honest financiers in the world, have