Other People's Money [140]
"Why he operates."
To explain what sort of operations, would not be, perhaps, very easy. In the world of rogues, there are some rogues more formidable and more skillful than the rest, who always manage to escape the hand of the law. They are not such fools as to operate in person, - not they! They content themselves with watching their friends and comrades. If a good haul is made, at once they appear and claim their share. And, as they always threaten to inform, there is no help for it but to let them pocket the clearest of the profit.
Well, in a more elevated sphere, in the world of speculation, it is precisely that lucrative and honorable industry which M. d'Escajoul carries on. Thoroughly master of his ground, possessing a superior scent and an imperturbable patience, always awake, and continually on the watch, he never operates unless he is sure to win.
And the day when the manager of some company has violated his charter or stretched the law a little too far, he may be sure to see M. d'Escajoul appear, and ask for some little - advantages, and proffer, in exchange, the most thorough discretion, and even his kind offices.
Two or three of his friends have heard him say,
"Who would dare to blame me? It's very moral, what I am doing."
Such is the man who came in, smiling, just as Maxence and Marius de Tregars had sat down at the table. M. de Tregars rose to receive him.
"You will breakfast with us?" he said.
"Thank you," answered M. d'Escajoul. "I breakfasted precisely at eleven, as usual. Punctuality is a politeness which a man owes to his stomach. But I will accept with pleasure a drop of that old Cognac which you offered me the other evening."
He took a seat; and the valet brought him a glass, which he set on the edge of the table. Then,
"I have just seen our man," he said.
Maxence understood that he was referring to M. de Thaller.
"Well?" inquired M. de Tregars.
"Impossible to get any thing out of him. I turned him over and over, every way. Nothing!"
"Indeed!"
"It's so; and you know if I understand the business. But what can you say to a man who answers you all the time, 'The matter is in the hands of the law; experts have been named; I have nothing to fear from the most minute investigations'?"
By the look which Marius de Tregars kept riveted upon M. d'Escajoul, it was easy to see that his confidence in him was not without limits. He felt it, and, with an air of injured innocence,
"Do you suspect me, by chance," he said, "to have allowed myself to be hoodwinked by Thaller?"
And as M. de Tregars said nothing, which was the most eloquent of answers,
"Upon my word," he insisted, "you are wrong to doubt me. Was it you who came after me? No. It was I, who, hearing through Marcolet the history of your fortune, came to tell you, 'Do you want to know a way of swamping Thaller?' And the reasons I had to wish that Thaller might be swamped: I have them still. He trifled with me, he 'sold' me, and he must suffer for it; for, if it came to be known that I could be taken in with impunity, it would be all over with my credit."
After a moment of silence,
"Do you believe, then," asked M. de Tregars, "that M. de Thaller is innocent?"
"Perhaps."
"That would be curious."
"Or else his measures are so well taken that he has absolutely nothing to fear. If Favoral takes everything upon himself, what can they say to the other? If they have acted in collusion, the thing has been prepared for a long time; and, before commencing to fish, they must have troubled the water so well, that justice will be unable to see anything in it."
"And you see no one who could help us?"
"Favoral -"
To Maxence's great surprise, M. de Tregars shrugged his shoulders.
"That one is gone," he said; "and, were he at hand, it is quite evident that if he was in collusion with M. de Thaller, he would not speak."
"Of course."
"That being the case, what can we do?"
"Wait."
M. de Tregars made a gesture of discouragement.
"I might as well give up the fight,
To explain what sort of operations, would not be, perhaps, very easy. In the world of rogues, there are some rogues more formidable and more skillful than the rest, who always manage to escape the hand of the law. They are not such fools as to operate in person, - not they! They content themselves with watching their friends and comrades. If a good haul is made, at once they appear and claim their share. And, as they always threaten to inform, there is no help for it but to let them pocket the clearest of the profit.
Well, in a more elevated sphere, in the world of speculation, it is precisely that lucrative and honorable industry which M. d'Escajoul carries on. Thoroughly master of his ground, possessing a superior scent and an imperturbable patience, always awake, and continually on the watch, he never operates unless he is sure to win.
And the day when the manager of some company has violated his charter or stretched the law a little too far, he may be sure to see M. d'Escajoul appear, and ask for some little - advantages, and proffer, in exchange, the most thorough discretion, and even his kind offices.
Two or three of his friends have heard him say,
"Who would dare to blame me? It's very moral, what I am doing."
Such is the man who came in, smiling, just as Maxence and Marius de Tregars had sat down at the table. M. de Tregars rose to receive him.
"You will breakfast with us?" he said.
"Thank you," answered M. d'Escajoul. "I breakfasted precisely at eleven, as usual. Punctuality is a politeness which a man owes to his stomach. But I will accept with pleasure a drop of that old Cognac which you offered me the other evening."
He took a seat; and the valet brought him a glass, which he set on the edge of the table. Then,
"I have just seen our man," he said.
Maxence understood that he was referring to M. de Thaller.
"Well?" inquired M. de Tregars.
"Impossible to get any thing out of him. I turned him over and over, every way. Nothing!"
"Indeed!"
"It's so; and you know if I understand the business. But what can you say to a man who answers you all the time, 'The matter is in the hands of the law; experts have been named; I have nothing to fear from the most minute investigations'?"
By the look which Marius de Tregars kept riveted upon M. d'Escajoul, it was easy to see that his confidence in him was not without limits. He felt it, and, with an air of injured innocence,
"Do you suspect me, by chance," he said, "to have allowed myself to be hoodwinked by Thaller?"
And as M. de Tregars said nothing, which was the most eloquent of answers,
"Upon my word," he insisted, "you are wrong to doubt me. Was it you who came after me? No. It was I, who, hearing through Marcolet the history of your fortune, came to tell you, 'Do you want to know a way of swamping Thaller?' And the reasons I had to wish that Thaller might be swamped: I have them still. He trifled with me, he 'sold' me, and he must suffer for it; for, if it came to be known that I could be taken in with impunity, it would be all over with my credit."
After a moment of silence,
"Do you believe, then," asked M. de Tregars, "that M. de Thaller is innocent?"
"Perhaps."
"That would be curious."
"Or else his measures are so well taken that he has absolutely nothing to fear. If Favoral takes everything upon himself, what can they say to the other? If they have acted in collusion, the thing has been prepared for a long time; and, before commencing to fish, they must have troubled the water so well, that justice will be unable to see anything in it."
"And you see no one who could help us?"
"Favoral -"
To Maxence's great surprise, M. de Tregars shrugged his shoulders.
"That one is gone," he said; "and, were he at hand, it is quite evident that if he was in collusion with M. de Thaller, he would not speak."
"Of course."
"That being the case, what can we do?"
"Wait."
M. de Tregars made a gesture of discouragement.
"I might as well give up the fight,