M. Gandelu made no reply, but struck his clenched fist upon his breast, as though to show that any secret confided to him would be locked up in the safe security of his heart.
Then Andre hesitated no longer, and, with the exception of giving names, told the whole story of his love, his ambitions, and his hopes, and gave a clear account of how matters stood.
“How can I help you?” asked M. Gandelu.
“Allow me,” said Andre, “to hand over the work with which you have intrusted me to one of my friends. I will retain the responsibility, but will merely act as one of the workmen. This, to a certain extent, will give me my liberty, while at the same time I shall be earning a little money, which is just now of vast importance to me.”
“Is that what you call a favor?”
“Certainly, and a very great one, too.”
Gandelu rose hastily, and, opening an iron safe which stood in one corner of the room, and taking from it a bundle of banknotes, he placed them on the table before Andre with an expressive look, which meant, “Take what you desire.”
The unlooked-for kindness of this man, who forgot all his own sorrows in his anxiety to relieve the necessities of another, affected Andre deeply.
“I do not need money,” began he.
With a wave of his hand Gandelu inspired silence. “Take these twenty thousand francs,” said he, “and then I can tell you why I asked you to come upstairs.”