I
discovered this at once. It was only toward the close of the
interview, and after an unexpected revelation from me, that he
lost all control over himself. The thought that he would lose my
brother's millions crazed him. Oh! that fatal and accursed money!
Wilkie's adviser wished him to employ legal means to obtain an
acknowledgment of his parentage; and he had copied from the Code a
clause which is applicable to this case. By this one circumstance
I am convinced that his adviser is a man of experience in such
matters--in other words, the business agent----"
"What business agent?" inquired the baron.
"The person who called here the other day, M. Isidore Fortunat.
Ah! why didn't I not bribe him to hold his peace?"
The baron had entirely forgotten the existence of Victor Chupin's
honorable employer. "You are mistaken, Lia," he replied. "M.
Fortunat has had no hand in this."
"Then who could have betrayed my secret?"
"Why, your former ally, the rascal for whose sake you allowed
Pascal Ferailleur to be sacrificed--the Viscount de Coralth!"
The bare supposition of such treachery on the viscount's part
brought a flush of indignant anger to Madame d'Argeles's cheek.
"Ah! if I thought that!" she exclaimed. And then, remembering
what reasons the baron had for hating M. de Coralth, she murmured:
"No! Your animosity misleads you--he wouldn't dare!"
The baron read her thoughts.
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