Compromise
with him. You will be rich enough to satisfy his greed without
feeling it."
M. Wilkie remained silent for a moment, as if he were deliberating
upon the course he ought to pursue. "If my father is reasonable,
I will be the same," he said at last. "I will choose as an
arbiter between us one of my friends--a man who acts on the
square, like myself--the Marquis de Valorsay."
"My God! do you know him?"
"He is one of my most intimate friends."
Madame d'Argeles had become very pale. "Wretched boy!" she
exclaimed. "You don't know that it's the marquis----" She paused
abruptly. One word more and she would have betrayed Pascal
Ferailleur's secret plans, with which she had been made acquainted
by Baron Trigault. Had she a right to do this, even to put her
son on his guard against a man whom she considered the greatest
villain in the world?
"Well?" insisted M. Wilkie, in surprise.
But Madame d'Argeles had recovered her self-possession. "I only
wished to warn you against too close a connection with the Marquis
de Valorsay. He has an excellent position in society, but yours
will be far more brilliant. His star is on the wane; yours is
just rising. All that he is regretting, you have a right to hope
for. Perhaps even now he is jealous of you, and wishes to
persuade you to take some false step."
"Ah! you little know him!"
"I have warned you.
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