me that I am not unreasonable to ask what risk I am to
run, and what profit is to accrue to me.

Vautrin
Time is short, speech long, let us employ the former and drop the
latter. There are two lives in peril, that of a man I am interested
in, and that of a musketeer which I consider useless: we are going to
crush him.

Joseph
What! Do you mean monsieur the marquis? I will have nothing to do with
it.

Lafouraille
You have no say in the matter of your consent.

Buteux
We have captured him. Look you, my friend, when the wine is drawn--

Joseph
If it is bad, it must not be drunk.

Vautrin
And you refuse to pledge me in a glass? He who thinks calculates, and
he who calculates betrays.

Joseph
Your calculations lead to the scaffold.

Vautrin
Enough! You tire me. Your master is to fight a duel to-morrow. In this
duel one of the combatants will never leave the ground alive; imagine
that the duel has taken place, and that your master has had no fair
chance.

Buteux
That is just it.

Lafouraille
The master is as deep as fate.

Joseph
A fine condition to be in.

Buteux
The devil to pay and no pitch hot!

Vautrin (to Joseph, pointing out Lafouraille and Buteux)
You will conceal these two.

Joseph
Where?

Vautrin
I tell you, you must conceal them. When all are asleep in the house,
excepting us, you must send them up to the musketeer's room. (To
Buteux and Lafouraille) Try to go there without him; you must be
cautions and adroit; the window of his room overlooks the court.
(Whispers in their ears) Throw him down. It will be a case of despair
(turning to Joseph), and suicide will be a ground for averting
suspicion from all.

SCENE THIRD.

Vautrin (alone)
All is saved! There is only one suspect among us, and I will change
that state of affairs. Blondet is the traitor, and in this case bad
debts will make good friends, for I will point him out to the duke in
a friendly manner as the murderer of Vicomte de Langeac. I must
finally discover the motive of the duchess's singular behavior. If
what I learn explains the suicide of the marquis, what a master stroke
it will be!

SCENE FOURTH.
Joseph and Vautrin.

Joseph
Your men are well concealed, but you doubtless intend to leave the
house?

Vautrin
No, I am going to do some reading in the study of the Duc de
Montsorel.

Joseph
But if he comes home, won't you be afraid?

Vautrin
If I feared anything, would I be master of you all?

Joseph