"Where are you going?"
"I'm going off because I have nothing more to say to you. My hundred and fifty thousand francs are at your disposal. You can take them or leave them. You cannot betray me without ruining yourselves. You won't get another sou. You can think it over. I don't attach any value to my life. You can have the hundred and fifty thousand francs or nothing at all.
"Sit down, Nut, and let's argue the thing out. It would be a pity for all of us if you left us like this," said de Saynthine.
Now they no longer gave themselves airs. They let themselves go without restraint, and were such men as life in a penal settlement had made of them. They used slang and addressed each other in the familiar second person. They had become once again comrades who were ready to come to an understanding or fight to the death. They called him once more the Nut.
Didier was still on his feet.
"You haven't grasped the fact, Nut, that we don't want to blackmail you. There's never any end to blackmail. If we accepted your hundred and fifty thousand francs they would be gone in three months, and the whole thing would begin over again. Nothing is to be done with a hundred and fifty thousand francs between the three of us. It's not enough to make even one honest man! But if you have any common sense, you will get us out of our poverty once for all. We ask you to share with us what property you have, whether it comes from your marriage or from any other source."
"You must hand over a million, and you'll never hear of us again, I promise you," said the Burglar, and he raised his hand as if he were about to take an oath.
"I have a list of the securities pertaining to Madame d'Haumont," said the Joker in his turn. "A pretty good lot of them could be sold at once, and the others do not present insuperable difficulties. The Nut has the power to do what he likes with these securities. His signature alone is needed. There's no necessity to give any explanation; but if he wants to supply one, it will be easy for him to do so. He has securities which have gone up in value, and he is taking advantage of the fact to sell them. Others have gone down in value, and he wants to get rid of them before they depreciate still further. It's he who has the management of the business. It's his duty to 'reinvest' the money. I'll take it on myself to reinvest it. He has but to give me his signature, and he will see what a good business man I am! Madame d'Haumont will suspect nothing. We shall leave you the land and houses, and your father-in-law's property which you will inherit. You have nothing to complain of. Only you must sit down, old man, and take a pen. We have already jawed too much. Time is passing, and we haven't really done anything yet."
The three of them stared at Didier, who was still on his feet, very pale, his eyes half closed, his revolver in his hand.
They did not fear the revolver. They knew very well that he was incapable of shooting the three of them. He was not a Chéri-Bibi, was not Didier, and then if he were to run away leaving three corpses behind he would not escape a scandal. Moreover, as may be imagined, they would not allow him to have it all his own way.