"I am delighted to find that you are the man I judged you to be. Still, while thanking you from my heart for the service you wish to render me, I do not accept it."
"Do you refuse, Valentine?" he said mournfully.
"Let us understand each other, my friend. I do not refuse; I simply tell you that I do not want the money, and here is the proof," he added, as he took from his pocket a folded paper, which, he handed to his countryman, "you, as a banker, may know the firm of Thornwood, Davison, and Co."
"It is the richest in San Francisco."
"Then open that paper and read."
Mr. Rallier obeyed.
"An unlimited credit opened at my house," he exclaimed in a voice tremulous with joy.
"Does that displease you?" Valentine asked with a smile.
"On the contrary; but you must be rich in that case."
A cloud of sadness passed over the hunter's forehead.