“Well—but swear you will never repeat what I am going to say.”
“I give you my word, which I never break.”
“Well, then, this M. Louis is a Tartuffe—a Jesuit; such men are dangerous. Woe to the houses they enter! He has wasted all his property, we know how! It is a shame!... Then he artfully obtained a place in your uncle’s mill, where he has assumed more and more authority; he tries to influence the minds of the workmen; he ... wishes to marry your cousin.... Parbleu! I may as well say aloud what everybody is saying in secret.”
“Do they say that, Durand?”
“Yes, that is the report. But his art and hypocrisy are in vain. More than one of us understand his projects.... And let me assure you we tremble lest he succeed! There will be fine doings when the mill passes into the hands of this Jesuit, who will spend all of Mr. Smithson’s property, and prepare him a pitiful old age. Do you see now why I cannot endure that man? Oh! if I were master I would soon set him a-flying.... But I am not the master, ... it is he who is likely to be. If somebody could only get him dismissed!”
“Yes, yes,” said Albert, in a conceited tone. “There is some truth in what you say—a great deal, in fact.... Since I have been here, I have watched and studied his movements, and agree with you that it was rather an unlucky day for my uncle when he admitted this intriguer into his house. His schemes make me anxious.”
“Is there no way of defeating them?”
“It would be no easy matter.”
“Come, now! As if you, Mr. Smithson’s nephew; you who have more learning than all of us put together—who have more wit than I, though I am no fool—as if you could not send him adrift if you wished to!... You could never make me believe that.”
“What can I do? I certainly ask for nothing better than to get him into some difficulty; but how? He performs his duties with exasperating fidelity.”