“And how does Anatole bear the discovery?”
“He has not heard of it; he is at Rome, paying court to an English lady of rank to whom he hopes to be married.”
“And how will he bear it; in what spirit will he meet the blow?”
“From what I have seen of him, I 'd say he 'd stand up nobly under misfortune, and not less so here, that I know he firmly believed in his right; he was no party to the fraud.”
“These frauds, as you call them, succeed every day, and when they occur in high places we have more courteous names to call them by. What say you to the empire in France?”
“I'll not discuss that question with you; it takes too wide a range.”
“Anatole must bethink him of some other livelihood now, that's clear. I mean to tell him so.”
“You intend to see him—to speak with him?”
“What, sir, do you doubt it? Is it because my wife rejects me that I am to be lost to the ties of parental affection?” He said this with a coarse and undisguised mockery, and then, suddenly changing to a tone of earnestness, added, “We shall have to link our fortunes now, and there are not many men who can give an adventurer such counsels as I can.”
“From what I know of the Bramleighs, they would willingly befriend him if they knew how, or in what way to do it.”