, who for twenty
years has been my sole care. Well, believe it or not, as you like, he
has been speculating on my death, as you might speculate on a race-horse
at Vincennes."

"No, no," put in Gaston, but his father stopped him with a disdainful
gesture.

"Have at least the courage to acknowledge your fault. You thought me
blind because I said nothing, but your past conduct has opened my eyes."

"But, father!"

"Do not attempt to deny it. This very morning my man of business, M.
Catenac, wrote to me, and with that real courage which only true
friends possess, told me all. I must tell you, M. Andre," resumed the
contractor, "I was ill. I had a severe attack of the gout, such as a man
seldom recovers from, and my son was constant in his attendance at my
sick couch. This consoled me. 'He loves me after all,' said I. But it
was only my testamentary arrangements that he wanted to discover, and
he went straight to a money-lender called Clergot and raised a hundred
thousand francs assuring the blood-sucker that I had not many hours to
live."

"It is a lie!" cried Gaston, his face crimsoning with shame.

The old man raised the leg of the chair in his hand, and made so
threatening a movement that Andre flung himself between father and son.
"Great heavens!" cried he, "think what you are doing, sir, and forbear."

The old man paused, passed his hand round his brow, and flung the weapon
into a remote corner of the room. "I thank you," said he, grasping
Andre's hand; "you have saved me from a great crime. In another moment I
should have murdered him."

Gaston was no coward, and he still retained the position he had been in
before.

"This is quite romantic," muttered he. "The governor seems to be going
in for infanticide."

Andre did not allow him to finish the sentence, for, grasping the young
man's wrist, he whispered fiercely, "Not another word; silence!"

"But I want to know what it all means?" answered the irrepressible
youth.

"I had in my hands," said the old man, addressing Andre, and ignoring
the presence of his son, "the important paper he had copied. Yes; not
more than an hour ago I read it. These were the terms: if I died within
eight days from the date of signature, my son agreed to pay a bonus of
thirty thousand francs; but if I lived for one month, he would take up
the bill by paying one hundred and fifty thousand. If, however, by any
unforeseen chance, I should recover entirely, he bound himself to pay