"Well!" said the Frenchman, quickly. "Well?"
"Madame, your wife," said Cecil, with the grave politeness of an old
man, "has done me the honor to take me into her confidence. She tells
me that you have won a great deal of money; that you could put it to
good use at home, and so save yourselves much drudgery and debt, and
all that sort of trouble. You are quite right if you say it is no
concern of mine. It is not. But really, you know there is a great deal
of sense in what she wants, and you have apparently already won a
large sum."
The Frenchman was visibly surprised at this approach. He paused for a
second or two in some doubt, and even awe, for the disinherited one
carried the mark of a personage of consideration and of one whose
position is secure. Then he gave a short, unmirthful laugh.
"You are most kind, sir," he said with mock politeness and with an
impatient shrug. "But madame, my wife, has not done well to interest a
stranger in this affair, which, as you say, concerns you not."
He turned to the table again with a defiant swagger of independence
and placed two rolls of money upon the cloth, casting at the same
moment a childish look of displeasure at his wife.
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