"No, sir! You have not that satisfaction."
"I rejoice to hear it. All that I did was for your benefit," returned the attorney, complacently.
"Do you take me for an idiot?"
"By no means! You have shown your shrewdness too often to permit such a supposition."
"What do you mean, then?" said Jaspar, a little mollified, in spite of himself, by the conciliatory assurance of De Guy.
"Simply that your interest demanded your absence. I had not the time, then, to convince you of the fact; and, I trust, you will pardon the little subterfuge I adopted to promote your own views."
Jaspar opened his eyes, and fixed them in a broad stare upon big companion.
"Explain yourself," said he.
"Everything has come out right,—has it not?"
"Yes."