“Well, do you want the treasure, or don’t you? You’re not going to get it by just smoking your pipe—not a treasure like this.”
“All the same——”
“Have you, or haven’t you seen the Marquess’s [[295]]will?” exclaimed Jodot impatiently. “Aurelie inherits the whole of the Juvains estate. What did you think of doing then? Marry her perhaps? It takes two people to make a marriage, my lad; and I’ve an idea that that fine fellow, William, wouldn’t have been one of them.”
“Well?”
“Well, this is what is going to happen, my lad. To-morrow the lake of Juvains will be neither higher nor lower than usual. The day after and no sooner, since the Marquess has forbidden them to come on to the plateau, the shepherds will return. They will find the Marquess killed by a fall into a ravine; and nobody will suspect that any one lent him a helping hand to lose his balance. Then no heir is found since he has no relations, and no will, since I’ve got it. Consequently the estate becomes the property of the republic. Six months later it is sold. We buy it.”
“And where do we get the money?” said William doubtfully.
“We shall easily find it in six months,” said Jodot in sinister accents. “Besides, what’s the estate worth to any one who does not know the secret?”
“And suppose a prosecution is started?”
“Who’s going to be prosecuted?”
“Ourselves.”