“Only the more reason for your watchfulness and obedience.”

“Very well put:  only, before braving danger, my venerable and beloved uncle, I want to know its extent.  I am not a man to retreat in the hour of peril, but I want to know exactly how much risk I am running.”

“I told you to keep quiet, and follow my directions.”

“But to do this would imply that I have perfect confidence in you, my dear uncle,” said Raoul, sneeringly.

“And why should you not?  What reasons for distrust have you after all that I have done for you?  Who went to London, and rescued you from a state of privation and ignominy?  I did.  Who gave you a name and position when you had neither?  I did.  And who is working now to maintain your present life of ease, and insure you a splendid future?  I am.  And how do you repay me?”

“Superb, magnificent, inimitable!” said Raoul, with mocking derision.  “But, while on the subject, why don’t you prove that you have sacrificed yourself for my sake?  You did not need me as a tool for carrying out plans for your own benefit; did you? oh no, not at all!  Dear, kind, generous, disinterested uncle!  You ought to have the Montyon prize; I think I must recommend you as the most deserving person I have ever met!”

Clameran was so angry at these jeering words that he feared to trust himself to speak.

“Now, my good uncle,” continued Raoul more seriously, “we had better end this child’s play, and come to a clear understanding.  I follow you here, because I thoroughly understand your character, and have just as much confidence in you as you deserve, and not a particle more.  If it were for your advantage to ruin me, you would not hesitate one instant.  If danger threatened us, you would fly alone, and leave your dutiful nephew to make his escape the best way he could.  Oh! don’t look shocked, and pretend to deny it; your conduct is perfectly natural, and in your place I would act the same way.  Only remember this, that I am not a man to be trifled with.  Now let us cease these unnecessary recriminations, and come to the point:  what is your present plan?”

Louis saw that his accomplice was too shrewd to be deceived, and that the safest course was to trust all to him, and to pretend that he had intended doing so all along.

Without any show of anger, he briefly and clearly related all that had occurred at his brother’s.

He told the truth about everything except the amount of his brother’s fortune, the importance of which he lessened as much as possible.

“Well,” said Raoul, when the report was ended, “we are in a nice fix.  And do you expect to get out of it?”

“Yes, if you don’t betray me.”

“I wish you to understand, marquis, that I have never betrayed anyone yet; don’t judge me by yourself, I beg.  What steps will you take to get free of this entanglement?”

“I don’t know; but something will turn up.  Oh, don’t be alarmed; I’ll find some means of escape:  so you can return home with your mind at rest.  You run no risk in Paris, and ’tis the best place for you.  I will stay here to watch Gaston.”