AT about the same hour on the same day in which the Englishman held the
conference with the Parisian detective just related, the Marquis de
Rochebriant found himself by appointment in the _cabinet d'affaires_ of
his _avoue_ M. Gandrin that gentleman had hitherto not found time to give
him a definite opinion as to the case submitted to his judgment. The
_avoue_ received Alain with a kind of forced civility, in which the
natural intelligence of the Marquis, despite his inexperience of life,
discovered embarrassment.
"Monsieur le Marquis," said Gandrin, fidgeting among the papers on his
bureau, "this is a very complicated business. I have given not only my
best attention to it, but to your general interests. To be plain, your
estate, though a fine one, is fearfully encumbered--fearfully--
frightfully."
"Sir," said the Marquis, haughtily, "that is a fact which was never
disguised from you."
"I do not say that it was, Marquis; but I scarcely realized the amount of
the liabilities nor the nature of the property. It will be difficult--
nay, I fear, impossible--to find any capitalist to advance a sum that
will cover the mortgages at an interest less than you now pay. As for
a Company to take the whole trouble off your hands, clear off the
mortgages, manage the forests, develop the fisheries, guarantee you an
adequate income, and at the end of twenty-one years or so render up to
you or your heirs the free enjoyment of an estate thus improved, we must
dismiss that prospect as a wild dream of my good friend M. Hebert.
People in the provinces do dream; in Paris everybody is wide awake."
"Monsieur," said the Marquis, with that inborn imperturbable loftiness
of _sang froid_ which has always in adverse circumstances characterized
the French noblesse, "be kind enough to restore my papers. I see that
you are not the man for me. Allow me only to thank you, and inquire the
amount of my debt for the trouble I have given."
"Perhaps you are quite justified in thinking I am not the man for you,
Monsieur le Marquis; and your papers shall, if you decide on dismissing
me, be returned to you this evening. But as to my accepting remuneration
where I have rendered no service, I request M. le Marquis to put that out
of the question. Considering myself, then, no longer your _avoue_,
do not think I take too great a liberty in volunteering my counsel as
a friend,--or a friend at least to M. Hebert, if you do not vouchsafe
my right so to address yourself."
M. Gandrin spoke with a certain dignity of voice and manner which touched
and softened his listener.
"You make me your debtor far more than I pretend to repay," replied
Alain. "Heaven knows I want a friend, and I will heed with gratitude and
respect all your counsels in that character."
"Plainly and briefly, my advice is this: M. Louvier is the principal
mortgagee. He is among the six richest capitalists of Paris. He does
not, therefore, want money, but, like most self-made men, he is very
accessible to social vanities. He would be proud to think he had
rendered a service to a Rochebriant. Approach him, either through me,
or, far better, at once introduce yourself, and propose to consolidate
all your other liabilities in one mortgage to him, at a rate of interest
lower than that which is now paid to some of the small mortgagees. This
would add considerably to your income and would carry out M. Hebert's
advice."
"But does it not strike you, dear M. Gandrin, that such going cap-in-hand
to one who has power over my fate, while I have none over his, would
scarcely be consistent with my self-respect, not as Rochebriant only,
but as Frenchman?"
"It does not strike me so in the least; at all events, I could make the
proposal on your behalf, without compromising yourself, though I should
be far more sanguine of success if you addressed M. Louvier in person."
"I should nevertheless prefer leaving it in your hands; but even for that
I must take a few days to consider. Of all the mortgagees M. Louvier has
been hitherto the severest and most menacing, the one whom Hebert dreads
the most; and should he become sole mortgagee, my whole estate would pass
to him if, through any succession of bad seasons and failing tenants, the
interest was not punctually paid."
"It could so pass to him now."
"No; for there have been years in which the other mortgagees, who are
Bretons and would be loath to ruin a Rochebriant, have been lenient and
patient."
"If Louvier has not been equally so, it is only because he knew nothing
of you, and your father no doubt had often sorely tasked his endurance.
Come, suppose we manage to break the ice easily. Do me the honour to
dine here to meet him; you will find that he is not an unpleasant man."
The Marquis hesitated, but the thought of the sharp and seemingly
hopeless struggle for the retention of his ancestral home to which he
would be doomed if he returned from Paris unsuccessful in his errand
overmastered his pride. He felt as if that self-conquest was a duty he
owed to the very tombs of his fathers. "I ought not to shrink from the
face of a creditor," said he, smiling somewhat sadly, "and I accept the
proposal you so graciously make."
"You do well, Marquis, and I will write at once to Louvier to ask him to
give me his first disengaged day."
The Marquis had no sooner quitted the house than M. Gandrin opened a door
at the side of his office, and a large portly man strode into the room,--
stride it was rather than step,--firm, self-assured, arrogant, masterful.
"Well, _mon ami_," said this man, taking his stand at the hearth, as a
king might take his stand in the hall of his vassal, "and what says our
_petit muscadin_?"
"He is neither _petit_ nor _muscadin_, Monsieur Louvier," replied
Gandrin, peevishly; "and he will task your powers to get him thoroughly
into your net. But I have persuaded him to meet you here. What day can
you dine with me? I had better ask no one else."
"To-morrow I dine with my friend O-----, to meet the chiefs of the
Opposition," said M. Louvier, with a sort of careless rollicking
pomposity. "Thursday with Pereire; Saturday I entertain at home. Say
Friday. Your hour?"
"Seven."
"Good! Show me those Rochebriant papers again; there is something I had
forgotten to note. Never mind me. Go on with your work as if I were not
here."
Louvier took up the papers, seated himself in an armchair by the
fireplace, stretched out his legs, and read at his ease, but with a very
rapid eye, as a practised lawyer skims through the technical forms of a
case to fasten upon the marrow of it.
"Ah! as I thought. The farms could not pay even the interest on my
present mortgage; the forests come in for that. If a contractor for the
yearly sale of the woods was bankrupt and did not pay, how could I get my
interest? Answer me that, Gandrin."
"Certainly you must run the risk of that chance."
"Of course the chance occurs, and then I foreclose, seize,--Rochebriant
and its _seigneuries_ are mine."
As he spoke he laughed, not sardonically,--a jovial laugh,--and opened
wide, to reshut as in a vice, the strong iron hand which had doubtless
closed over many a man's all.
"Thanks. On Friday, seven o'clock." He tossed the papers back on the
bureau, nodded a royal nod, and strode forth imperiously as he had strode
in.