“I cannot give it,” Léon answered, shortly.
“At any rate, when the money is paid you will show me the receipt?”
“Impossible.”
M. Bourget judged it necessary to make a show of displeasure. He frowned heavily.
“Allow me to say, Monsieur le baron, that you demand more confidence than you display.”
“Yes, that is true,” said Léon, lightly, once more. “But if I give you my word of honour that the money will be sent to the creditor, you will be satisfied, will you not?”
M. Bourget was satisfied, whether he suffered himself to appear so or not. The word of a De Beaudrillart had gained an enormous value in his eyes. Yet Léon’s next remark was sufficiently startling.
“If you are so good as to clear Poissy of debt when Nathalie enters it as my wife, may I ask you to pay the sum into my banker’s, so that I may take it out in the form most convenient.”
“A cheque would tell tales,” muttered M. Bourget to himself. “Decidedly, there is a mystery somewhere. However, when one is drawn into an old family such as the De Beaudrillarts, one must accept mysteries. The money will be paid. He gave me his word. For the rest, I shall see that Nathalie is safe.”
It will be perceived that anxiety for the marriage had brought M. Bourget to the point of swallowing a great deal, but as regarded the payment of the debt, Mme. de Beaudrillart also had her anxieties. As soon as Léon and his wife were settled at Poissy, she sounded her son on the subject, one day, immediately after the late breakfast, when Nathalie had left the room to fetch her hat, and Félicie and Claire obeyed a hint from their mother and followed.