"I am lending you the money, my dear fellow. If we work this business between us, your lands would yield me enough to reimburse me."
Gontran sneered: "All right. I'll have the woman and you the money."
But Andermatt got quite annoyed. "If I am to interest myself in your affairs in order that you might insult me, there's an end of it—let us say no more about it!"
Gontran apologized: "Don't get vexed, my dear fellow, and excuse me! I know that you are a very honest man of irreproachable loyalty in matters of business. I would not ask you for the price of a drink if I were your coachman; but I would intrust my fortune to you if I were a millionaire."
William, less excited, rejoined: "We'll return presently to that subject. Let us first dispose of the principal question. The old man was not taken in by my wiles, and said to me in reply: 'It depends on which of them is the girl you're talking about. If 'tis Louise, the elder one, here's her dowry.' And he enumerated for me all the lands that are around the establishment, those which are between the baths and the hotel and between the hotel and the Casino, all those, in short, which are indispensable to us, those which have for me an inestimable value. He gives, on the contrary, to the younger girl the other side of the mountain, which will be worth as much money later on, no doubt, but which is worth nothing to me. I tried in every possible way to make him modify their partition and invert the lots. I was only knocking my head against the obstinacy of a mule. He will not change; he has fixed his resolution. Reflect—what do you think of it?"
Gontran, much troubled, much perplexed, replied: "What do you think of it yourself? Do you believe that he was thinking of me in thus distributing the shares in the land?"
"I haven't a doubt of it. The clown said to himself: 'As he likes the younger one, let us take care of the bag.' He hopes to give you his daughter while keeping his best lands. And again perhaps his object is to give the advantage to the elder girl. He prefers her—who knows?—she is more like himself—she is more cunning—more artful—more practical. I believe she is a strapping lass, this one—for my part, if I were in your place, I would change my stick from one shoulder to the other."
But Gontran, stunned, began muttering: "The devil! the devil! the devil! And Charlotte's lands—you don't want them?"
Andermatt exclaimed: "I—no—a thousand times, no! I want those which are close to my baths, my hotel, and my Casino. It is very simple, I wouldn't give anything for the others, which could only be sold, at a later period, in small lots to private individuals."
Gontran kept still repeating: "The devil! the devil! the devil! here's a plaguy business! So then you advise me?"