Other People's Money [123]
poor dupe, but that they would know how to find the others."
"What others?"
"Ah! they didn't say."
The commissary shrugged his shoulders.
"What!" he exclaimed, "you find yourself in presence of two men furious to have been duped, who swear and threaten, and you can't get from them a name that you want? You are not very smart, my dear!"
And as the poor secretary, somewhat put out of countenance, looked down, and said nothing,
"Did you at least ask them," he resumed, "who the woman is to whom the article refers, and whose existence they have revealed to the reporter?"
"Of course I did, sir."
"And what did they answer?"
"That they were not spies, and had nothing to say, M. Saint Pavin added, however, that he had said it without much thought, and only because he had once seen M. Favoral buying a three thousand francs bracelet, and also because it seemed impossible to him that a man should do away with millions without the aid of a woman."
The commissary could not conceal his ill humor.
"Of course!" he grumbled. "Since Solomon said, 'Look for the woman' (for it was King Solomon who first said it), every fool thinks it smart to repeat with a cunning look that most obvious of truths. What next?"
"M. Saint Pavin politely invited me to go to - well, not here."
The commissary wrote rapidly a few lines, put them in an envelope, which he sealed with his private seal, and handed it to his secretary, saying,
"That will do. Take this to the prefecture yourself." And, after the secretary had gone out,
"Well, M. Maxence," he said, "you have heard?" Of course he had. Only Maxence was thinking much less of what he had just heard than of the strange interest this commissary had taken in his affairs, even before he had seen him.
"I think," he stammered, "that it is very unfortunate the woman cannot be found."
With a gesture full of confidence,
"Be easy," said the commissary: "she shall be found. A woman cannot swallow millions at that rate, without attracting attention. Believe me, we shall find her, unless -"
He paused for a moment, and, speaking slowly and emphatically,
"Unless," he added, "she should have behind her a very skillful and very prudent man. Or else that she should be in a situation where her extravagance could not have created any scandal."
Mlle. Lucienne started. She fancied she understood the commissary's idea, and could catch a glimpse of the truth.
"Good heavens!" she murmured.
But Maxence didn't notice any thing, his mind being wholly bent upon following the commissary's deductions.
"Or unless," he said, "my father should have received almost nothing for his share of the enormous sums subtracted from the Mutual Credit, in which case he could have given relatively but little to that woman. M.Saint Pavin himself acknowledges that my father has been egregiously taken in."
"By whom?"
"Maxence hesitated for a moment.
"I think," he said at last, "and several friends of my family (among whom M. Chapelain, an old lawyer) think as I do, that it is very strange that my father should have drawn millions from the Mutual Credit without any knowledge of the fact on the part of the manager."
"Then, according to you, M. de Thaller must be an accomplice."
Maxence made no answer.
"Be it so," insisted the commissary. " I admit M. de Thaller's complicity; but then we must suppose that he had over your father some powerful means of action."
An employer always has a great deal of influence over his subordinates."
"An influence sufficiently powerful to make them run the risk of the galleys for his benefit! That is not likely. We must try and imagine something else."
"I am trying; but I don't find any thing."
"And yet it is not all. How do you explain your father's silence when M. de Thaller was heaping upon him the most outrageous insults?"
"My father was stunned, as it were."
"And at the moment of escaping, if he did have any accomplices, how is it that he did not mention their names to you, to your mother, or to your sister?"
"What others?"
"Ah! they didn't say."
The commissary shrugged his shoulders.
"What!" he exclaimed, "you find yourself in presence of two men furious to have been duped, who swear and threaten, and you can't get from them a name that you want? You are not very smart, my dear!"
And as the poor secretary, somewhat put out of countenance, looked down, and said nothing,
"Did you at least ask them," he resumed, "who the woman is to whom the article refers, and whose existence they have revealed to the reporter?"
"Of course I did, sir."
"And what did they answer?"
"That they were not spies, and had nothing to say, M. Saint Pavin added, however, that he had said it without much thought, and only because he had once seen M. Favoral buying a three thousand francs bracelet, and also because it seemed impossible to him that a man should do away with millions without the aid of a woman."
The commissary could not conceal his ill humor.
"Of course!" he grumbled. "Since Solomon said, 'Look for the woman' (for it was King Solomon who first said it), every fool thinks it smart to repeat with a cunning look that most obvious of truths. What next?"
"M. Saint Pavin politely invited me to go to - well, not here."
The commissary wrote rapidly a few lines, put them in an envelope, which he sealed with his private seal, and handed it to his secretary, saying,
"That will do. Take this to the prefecture yourself." And, after the secretary had gone out,
"Well, M. Maxence," he said, "you have heard?" Of course he had. Only Maxence was thinking much less of what he had just heard than of the strange interest this commissary had taken in his affairs, even before he had seen him.
"I think," he stammered, "that it is very unfortunate the woman cannot be found."
With a gesture full of confidence,
"Be easy," said the commissary: "she shall be found. A woman cannot swallow millions at that rate, without attracting attention. Believe me, we shall find her, unless -"
He paused for a moment, and, speaking slowly and emphatically,
"Unless," he added, "she should have behind her a very skillful and very prudent man. Or else that she should be in a situation where her extravagance could not have created any scandal."
Mlle. Lucienne started. She fancied she understood the commissary's idea, and could catch a glimpse of the truth.
"Good heavens!" she murmured.
But Maxence didn't notice any thing, his mind being wholly bent upon following the commissary's deductions.
"Or unless," he said, "my father should have received almost nothing for his share of the enormous sums subtracted from the Mutual Credit, in which case he could have given relatively but little to that woman. M.Saint Pavin himself acknowledges that my father has been egregiously taken in."
"By whom?"
"Maxence hesitated for a moment.
"I think," he said at last, "and several friends of my family (among whom M. Chapelain, an old lawyer) think as I do, that it is very strange that my father should have drawn millions from the Mutual Credit without any knowledge of the fact on the part of the manager."
"Then, according to you, M. de Thaller must be an accomplice."
Maxence made no answer.
"Be it so," insisted the commissary. " I admit M. de Thaller's complicity; but then we must suppose that he had over your father some powerful means of action."
An employer always has a great deal of influence over his subordinates."
"An influence sufficiently powerful to make them run the risk of the galleys for his benefit! That is not likely. We must try and imagine something else."
"I am trying; but I don't find any thing."
"And yet it is not all. How do you explain your father's silence when M. de Thaller was heaping upon him the most outrageous insults?"
"My father was stunned, as it were."
"And at the moment of escaping, if he did have any accomplices, how is it that he did not mention their names to you, to your mother, or to your sister?"