"If it were only so," groaned Fougereuse, "but unfortunately you are mistaken; I am ruined, totally ruined!"
"Impossible! The fortune your father left behind him was too immense to have been spent in a few years! No matter what your embarrassments previously were, the fortune must have been sufficient to cover them and enrich you enormously besides!" replied Velletri.
"Count, I was robbed of my legacy—dastardly robbed," whined Fougereuse.
The Italian rose up angrily.
"Marquis," said he, "I am not used to bargaining and haggling. I ask you for the last time, what is your decision? I offer you peace or war. Peace means for you power and influence, while war—"
"War?" repeated Fougereuse, confused. "I—do not understand you!"
"Then I will express myself more clearly. When the society reposes its confidence in a man like you and discloses its most secret plans, it always has a weapon in the background, to be used in case of necessity. A comrade sometimes becomes an opponent—"
"I—should I ever become an enemy of the fathers? Oh, you do not believe that yourself!"
"Our measures are such that it cannot be done very easily, anyhow," replied Velletri, with faint malice; "this is our ultimatum: Either you accept my proposition and hand over the sum named within five days, or one of our emissaries will place certain papers in the hands of the district-attorney!"