"Nothing easier, my dear Madeleine. Charles will endorse your letter of credit and verify at hand all your accounts."
"That will be all the more necessary, since, between us, I am told that the person on whom they have given me this letter of credit is enormously rich, and as solvent as one could be, but crafty and sordid to the last degree."
"You do well to inform me beforehand. Charles will redouble his watchfulness."
"Besides, your husband, who is in business, ought to know the man of whom I speak,—they say he is one of the greatest capitalists in France."
"What is his name?"
"M. Pascal."
"M. Pascal?" repeated Madame Dutertre.
And she could not help trembling and turning pale.
The marquise, seeing her friend's emotion, said, quickly:
"Sophie, pray, what is the matter?"