Gontran gravely replied: "You tell me that a little bluntly."
"Yes, because it is necessary. Listen to me! You have eaten up the share which came to you as a fortune from your mother. Let us say no more about that."
"Let us say no more about it."
"As for your father, he possesses a yearly income of thirty thousand francs, say, a capital of about eight hundred thousand francs. Your share, later on, will, therefore, be four hundred thousand francs. Now you owe me—me, personally—one hundred and ninety thousand francs. You owe money besides to usurers."
Gontran muttered in a haughty tone: "Say, to Jews."
"Be it so, to Jews, although among the number there is a churchwarden from Saint Sulpice who made use of a priest as an intermediary between himself and you—but I will not cavil about such trifles. You owe, then, to various usurers, Israelites or Catholics, nearly as much. Let us put it at a hundred and fifty thousand at the lowest estimate. This makes a total of three hundred and forty thousand francs, on which you are paying interest, always borrowing, except with regard to mine, which you do not pay."
"That's right," said Gontran.
"So then, you have nothing more left."
"Nothing, indeed—except my brother-in-law."
"Except your brother-in-law, who has had enough of lending money to you."