"Let us go," he said, seizing Madame Fauvel by the arm.
But she resisted, and clung to a table, the better to resist.
"I have been a coward to sacrifice Madeleine," she said quietly. "I will not sacrifice Prosper!"
Raoul knew of a victorious argument which would break Madame Fauvel's resolution.
"Ah!" he cried with a cynical laugh; "you do not know, then, that Prosper and I are in league, and that he shares my fate."
"That is impossible."
"What do you think? Do you imagine that it was chance which gave me the secret word and opened the box?"
"Prosper is honest."
"Of course, and so am I. But—we need the money."