and security, the loss, too, of his southern sobriety. He kept
himself in a continual state of excitement, drinking great glasses
of _raki_ before his meals, laughing long, talking loud, like a rough
sailor ashore. You felt that here was a man overdoing himself to escape
from some heavy care. It showed, however, in the sudden contraction of
all the muscles of his face, as some unhappy thought crossed his
mind, or when he feverishly turned the pages of his little gilt-edged
note-book. The serious interview that Paul wanted so much Jansoulet
would not give him at any price. He spent his nights at the club, his
mornings in bed, and from the moment he awoke his room was full of
people who talked to him as he dressed, and to whom he replied, sponge
in hand. If, by a miracle, de Gery caught him alone for a second, he
fled, stopping his words with a "Not now, not now, I beg of you." In the
end the young man had recourse to drastic measures.

One morning, towards five o'clock, when Jansoulet came home from his
club, he found a letter on the table near his bed. At first he took it
to be one of the many anonymous denunciations he received daily. It
was indeed a denunciation, but it was signed and undisguised; and it
breathed in every word the loyalty and the earnest youthfulness of him
who wrote it. De Gery pointed out very clearly all the infamies and all
the double dealing which surrounded him. With no beating about the bush
he called the rogues by their names. There was not one of the usual
guests whom he did not suspect, not one who came with any other object
than to steal and to lie. From the top to the bottom of the house all
was pillage and waste. Bois l'Hery's horses were unsound, Schwalbach's
gallery was a swindle, Moessard's articles a recognised blackmail. De
Gery had made a long detailed memorandum of these scandalous abuses,
with proofs in support of it. But he specially recommended to
Jansoulet's attention the accounts of the Territorial Bank as the real
danger of the situation. Attracted by the Nabob's name, as chairman
of the company, hundreds of shareholders had fallen into the infamous
trap--poor seekers of gold, following the lucky miner. In the other
matters it was only money he lost; here his honour was at stake.
He would discover what a terrible responsibility lay upon him if he
examined the papers of the business, which was only deception and
cheatery from one end to the other.

"You will find the memoran