Very few people, even among the most strictly honest, can overcome a certain unpleasant feeling when, having crossed the threshold of the palace of justice, they find themselves in presence of a judge.
More than almost any one else, Maxence was likely to be accessible to that vague and inexplicable feeling; and it was with an effort that he answered, "On Saturday evening, the Baron de Thaller called at our house a few minutes before the commissary. After loading my father with reproaches, he invited him to leave the country; and, in order to facilitate his flight, he handed him these fifteen thousand francs.
My father declined to accept them; and, at the moment of parting, he recommended to me particularly to return them to M. de Thaller.
I thought it best to return them to you, sir."
"Why?"
"Because I wished the fact known to you of the money having been offered and refused."
M. Barban d'Avranchel was quietly stroking his whiskers, once of a bright red, but now almost entirely white.
"Is this an insinuation against the manager of the Mutual Credit?" he asked.
Maxence looked straight at him; and, in a tone which affirmed precisely the reverse, "I accuse no one,'," he said.
"I must tell you,"' resumed the judge, "that M. de Thaller has himself informed me of this circumstance. When he called at your house, he was ignorant, as yet, of the extent of the embezzlements, and was in hopes of being able to hush up the affair. That's why he wished his cashier to start for Belgium. This system of helping criminals to escape the just punishment of their crimes is to be bitterly deplored; but it is quite the habit of your financial magnates, who prefer sending some poor devil of am employe to hang himself abroad than run the risk of compromising their credit by confessing that they have been robbed."
Maxence might have had a great deal to say; but M. de Tregars had recommenced him the most extreme reserve. He remained silent.
"On the other hand," resumed the judge, "the refusal to accept the money so generously offered does not speak in favor of Vincent Favoral. He was well aware, when he left, that it would require a great deal of money to reach the frontier, escape pursuit, and hide himself abroad; and, if he refused the fifteen thousand francs, it must have been because he was well provided for already."
Tears of shame and rage started from Maxence's eyes "I am certain, sir," he exclaimed, "that my father went off without a sou."
"What has become of the millions, then?" he asked coldly.
Maxence hesitated. Why not mention his suspicions? He dared not.
"My father speculated at the bourse," he stammered. "And he led a scandalous conduct, keeping up, away from home, a style of living which must have absorbed immense sums."
"We knew nothing of it, sir; and our first suspicions were aroused by what the commissary of police told us."
The judge insisted no more; and in a tone which indicated that his question was a mere matter of form, and he attached but little importance to the answer, "You have no news from your father?" he asked.
"None whatever."
"And you have no idea where he has gone?"
"None in the least."
M. d'Avranchel had already resumed his seat at the table, and was again busy with his papers.
"You may retire," he said. You will be notified if I need you."
Maxence felt much discouraged when he joined M. de Tregars at the entrance of the gallery.
"The judge is convinced of M. de Thaller's entire innocence," he said.
But as soon as he had narrated, with a fidelity that did honor to his memory, all that had just occurred, "Nothing is lost yet," declared M. de Tregars. And, taking from his pocket the bill for two trunks, which had been found in M.
Favoral's portfolio, "There," he said, "we shall know our fate."