“I suppose, Captain, you gave them for something; you did not make a present of them,” said the Jew, coloring slightly.
“If I did not make a present of them,” rejoined Martin, “the transaction was about as profitable to me.”
“You owed me the money, sir; that, at least, is the way I regard the matter.”
“And when I paid it by these securities, you pledged yourself not to negotiate them. I explained to you how the entail was settled,—that the property must eventually be mine,—and you accepted the arrangement on these conditions.”
“All true, Captain; but nobody told me, at that time, there was going to be a revolution in Paris,—which there will be within forty-eight hours.”
“Confounded fool that I was to trust the fellow!” said Martin to himself, but quite loud enough to be heard; then turning to Merl, he said, “What do you mean by converting them into cash? Are you about to sell part of our estate?”
“Nothing of the kind, Captain,” said Merl, smiling at the innocence of the question. “I am simply going to deposit these where I can obtain an advance upon them. I promise you, besides, it shall not be in any quarter by which the transaction can reach the ears of your family. This assurance will, I trust, satisfy you, and entitle me to the information I ask for.”
“What information do you allude to?” asked Martin, who had totally forgotten what the Jew announced as the reason of his visit.
“I asked you, Captain,” said Merl, resuming the mincing softness of his usual manner, “as to which of these securities might be the more eligible for immediate negotiation?”
“And how should I know, sir?” replied the other, rudely. “I am very little acquainted with the property itself; I know still less about the kind of dealings you speak of. It does not concern me in the least what you do, or how you do it. I believe I may have given you bonds for something very like double the amount of all you ever advanced to me. I hear of nothing from my father but the immense resources of this, and the great capabilities of that; but as these same eventualities are not destined to better my condition, I have not troubled my head to remember anything about them. You have a claim of about twenty thousand against me.”