"May the devil bestow upon him five hundred million toothaches!"
exclaims Lapierre, for the first time showing any sign of animation.
The other letters were read in their order, interspersed with Madame
Reddon's explanations of their effect upon the heirs in France. His
description of the elevators of steel and of the house that covered an
entire block had caused a veritable sensation. Alas! those wonders are
still wonders to them, and they still, I fancy, more than half believe
in them. The letters are lying before me now, astonishing emanations,
totally ridiculous to a prosaic American, but calculated to convince and
stimulate the imagination of a _petit bourgeois_.
The General in glowing terms paints his efforts to run down the
Lespinasse conspirators. Although suffering horribly from his fractured
tibia (when he fell into the "hole"), and from other dire ills, he has
"not taken the slightest rest." He has been everywhere--"New Orleans,
Florida, to the city of Coney Island"--to corner the villains, who "flee
in all directions." The daughter, Marie Louise, through whom the General
expects to secure a compromise, has left for New Orleans. "Wonderful
coincidence," he writes, "they were all living quietly and I believe had
no intention whatever to travel, and two days after my arrival in New
York they all disappeared. The most suspicious of it all is that the
banker, his wife and children had left for Coney Island for the summer
and to spend their holidays, and certainly they disappeared without
saying good-by to their intimate friends.... I have the whole history of
Tessier's life and how he made his fortune. There is a family for the
use of whom we must give at least a million, for the fortune of Tessier
was not his alone. He had a companion who shared his troubles and his
work. According to the will they were to inherit one from the other; the
companion died, and Tessier inherited everything. I do not see the
necessity of your trip to New York; that might make noise and perhaps
delay my negotiations." Then follows the list of properties embraced in
the inheritance: