VAUTRIN. — I,  fishing  for  a  dowry?

SAINT-CHARLES. — Yes,  my  dear  man,  you  are;  and
your  daring  scheme  would  be  exposed  this  very  day  if
it  were  not  that  I,  your  old  friend,  am  the  very  person
instrusted  by  people  in  the  highest  position  with  the
mission  of  finding  you  out.  Rut  how  could  it  come
into  your  head — excuse  my  temerity — how  could  it
come  into  your  wise  head  to  dispute  with  the  powerful
house  of  Montsorel  for  an  heiress?

VAUTRIN. — I  am  dumfounded!  Why,  I  thought  you
came  to  me  to  propose  that  we  should  go  together  into
some  venture,  using  the  Frescas  money,  which  is
entirely  under  my  control!  And  now,  you  are  telling
me  a  tale  you  must  have  dreamed.  Why,  my  dear,
Frescas  is  one  of  the  seven  legitimate  names  of  this
young  Spanish  nobleman.  Most  important  reasons
will  prevent  him,  for  twenty-four  hours  longer,  from
declaring  his  true  position  in  the  world.  1  know  all
alx)ut  his  family  and  his  immense  wealth;  I  have  just
come  from  a  visit  of  inspection  over  the  estates.  I
don't  mind  so  much  your  taking  me  for  a  sharper — the
huge  amount  at  stake  is  sufficient  excuse — but  to  have


VAUTRIN  83

thought  mc  such  an  unconscionable  fool  as  to  have
placed  myself  in  the  train  of  some  cheap  adventurer
and  to  be  fighting  for  his  sake  such  people  as  the
Montsorels*—  Why,  such  a  stupid  blunder,  my  dear
fellow,  is  proof  sufficient  that  you  never  went  to
Vienna!  We  are  not  running  in  the  same  class,  my
man!

SAINT-CHAKLES. — Dou't  cxcitc  yourself  to  no  purpose,
respectable  chamberlain !  Why  should  we  try  any
longer  to  trip  each  other  by  means  of  more  or  less
clever  inventions?  You  cannot  expect  me  to  swallow
any  more  of  them.  I  tell  you,  our  cash-box  is  fuller
than  yours,  you  will  do  well  to  come  over  to  our  side!
Your  Frescas  is  as  much  a  Frescas  as  I  am  a  chevalier
and  you  a  baron.  You  met  him  on  the  Italian  coast :
then  he  was  a  tramp;  now  he  is  an  adventurer;  that's
all  the  difference!

VAUTRIN. — Very  well,  let  us  stop  telling  each  other
more  or  less  agreeable  lies;  the  time  has  come  for  the
bare  truth.
