“Elena is much braver than I! This morning, after seeing the newspapers, she ordered the automobile. I don’t know where she was going, probably to see some of those people. She said I ought to defend myself against all these accusations. But what defense have I? I can’t pretend that I didn’t sign reports about business I knew nothing about! I can’t lie about it.”
Robledo tried in vain to make him feel less hopeless. His optimism had collapsed under the attacks made upon it.
“Elena believes, as you do, that everything will come out all right. She is so confident in her power that she never gives up. Of course she has a lot of friends in Paris, people who knew her family in Russia. She went away this morning vowing that she would run down my enemies and all their machinations.... She thinks I have a lot of them and that they will use this Fontenoy business to destroy me.... And it’s true that she knows much more than I do about everything; it wouldn’t surprise me if she succeeded in making the newspapers and even the judge change their tone, and stop talking about proceedings and a prison sentence!”
It hadn’t been easy for him to bring out that word!
“A prison sentence! What do you think of a Torre Bianca in jail, Manuel? No, that’s something that shouldn’t be allowed to happen. And there is always a way to avoid that!”
As though all his forebears had awakened in him at the threat of public disgrace, he suddenly regained his former nervous and vibrant energy. But Robledo, startled by the cold gleam like the glitter of drawn steel that flashed from his friend’s eyes, exclaimed,
“You aren’t thinking of anything so foolish, Federico! After all, life is the best thing we’ve got. Death doesn’t solve anything ... and anyway, who knows? Perhaps you are right about Elena. Perhaps she will be able to influence the outcome of this affair.... It isn’t so improbable!”
As he left the house Robledo noticed several persons in the reception room. The butler murmured to him confidentially,
“They’re waiting for Madame la Marquise, sir. I told them the Master was out.”
His manner made it quite plain that these were people who had come to collect the money owing to them.