Raoul’s information was too concise and exact for Louis to deny it.

“You might have sense enough,” Raoul went on, “to know how to manage your forces if you undertake to be a commander.  We had a splendid game in our hands; and you, who held the cards, have made a perfect muddle of it.”

“I think—­”

“That the game is lost?  That is my opinion too, and all through you.  You have no one to blame but yourself.”

“I could not control events.”

“Yes, you could, if you had been shrewd.  Fools sit down and wait for an opportunity; sensible men make one.  What did we agree upon in London?  We were to implore my good mother to assist us a little, and, if she complied with our wishes, we were to be flattering and affectionate in our devotion to her.  And what was the result?  At the risk of killing the golden goose, you have made me torment the poor woman until she is almost crazy.”

“It was prudent to hasten matters.”

“You think so, do you?  Was it also to hasten matters that you took it into your head to marry Madeleine?  That made it necessary to let her into the secret; and, ever since, she has advised and set her aunt against us.  I would not be surprised if she makes her confess everything to M. Fauvel, or even inform against us at the police-office.”

“I love Madeleine!”

“You told me that before.  And suppose you do love her.  You led me into this piece of business without having studied its various bearings, without knowing what you were about.  No one but an idiot, my beloved uncle, would go and put his foot into a trap, and then say, ’If I had only known about it!’ You should have made it your business to know everything.  You came to me, and said, ‘Your father is dead,’ which was a lie to start with; perhaps you call it a mistake.  He is living; and, after what we have done, I dare not appear before him.  He would have left me a million, and now I shall not get a sou.  He will find his Valentine, and then good-by.”

“Enough!” angrily interrupted Louis.  “If I have made a mistake, I know how to redeem it.  I can save everything yet.”

“You can?  How so?”

“That is my secret,” said Louis gloomily.

Louis and Raoul were silent for a minute.  And this silence between them, in this lonely spot, at dead of night, was so horribly significant that both of them shuddered.

An abominable thought had flashed across their evil minds, and without a word or look they understood each other.

Louis broke the ominous silence, by abruptly saying: 

“Then you refuse to disappear if I pay you a hundred and fifty thousand francs?  Think it over before deciding:  it is not too late yet.”

“I have fully thought it over.  I know you will not attempt to deceive me any more.  Between certain ease, and the probability of an immense fortune, I choose the latter at all risks.  I will share your success or your failure.  We will swim or sink together.”