There was another silence. Sarrasin snapped his great jaws at a fly. Laurent, thunderstruck, began to turn over with fresh hope a resolve which these last few days had been taking shape in his mind.
"May I say something?" he enquired at last in a somewhat stifled voice.
"You know that you can say anything you like," responded Aymar without moving.
"Even something that you will not like?"
"Even that!"
Laurent fixed his eyes on a point across the river.
"Have you ever thought of digging for treasure in the old part of Sessignes?" he asked.
He was aware that Aymar smiled. "My dear Laurent!"
"If you did," went on Laurent, unperturbed, "you might find a hoard which you could devote to those families. . . . You might! Or I might find one for you!"
"I only wish you could!"