After a moment’s silence, Rodin resumed, addressing himself to M. Hardy: “Sir, you deserve, I know, all the good that is said of you; and you therefore command the sympathy of every honest man.”
“I hope so, sir.”
“Now, as an honest man, I come to render you a service.”
“And this service, sir—”
“To reveal to you an infamous piece of treachery, of which you have been the victim.”
“I think, sir, you must be deceived.”
“I have the proofs of what I assert.”
“Proofs?”
“The written proofs of the treachery that I come to reveal: I have them here,” answered Rodin “In a word, a man whom you believed your friend, has shamefully deceived you, sir.”
“And the name of this man?”