Mr. John pondered for a moment. "Look here," said he at last, "let us pitch the whole confounded suit into the fire. I have a compromise to propose. I candidly confess I am in a bit of a hole. That bill business is now before the courts and when it comes on for trial, it will cause a horrible scandal and people have condemned me beforehand. I only wish I had never mixed myself up in it."
"Suppose I help you out of the difficulty!"
"In that case you may dictate your own conditions and I will consent to them beforehand."
"There is only one way to save you. Henrietta must say that the bill is not forged, but is really signed by her and she must then pay and cancel it, then every foundation of a charge against you vanishes."
"A sublime idea," cried Mr. John springing from his seat. "And now let me hear your conditions."
"My only condition is, complete satisfaction to be made to the children of your second sister."
"What! surrender a whole third of the property to them without any deduction?"
"We will accept nothing less."
"What must I do first then?"
"First you must pay the baroness forty thousand florins."