Prosper was silent, and seemed agitated.
“Speak,” said M. Patrigent; “I must tell you that this circumstance is one of the most important in your case.”
“Whatever the cost may be, on this subject I am compelled to keep silence.”
“Beware of what you do; justice will not be satisfied with scruples of conscience.”
M. Patrigent waited for an answer. None came.
“You persist in your obstinacy, do you? Well, we will go on to the next question. You have, during the last year, spent fifty thousand francs. Your resources are at an end, and your credit is exhausted; to continue your mode of life was impossible. What did you intend to do?”
“I had no settled plan. I thought it might last as long as it would, and then I——”
“And then you would draw from the safe!”
“Ah, monsieur, if I were guilty, I should not be here! I should never have been such a fool as to return to the bank; I should have fled.”
M. Patrigent could not restrain a smile of satisfaction, and exclaimed: