"Everything was ready, as it happened. With the papers of a deceased
Peruvian nobleman, of the name of Pereira, properly revised, you had
faked me up a first-rate civic status. We arranged what you were to say
before the Prefect of Police; and I paid up the twenty thousand. We were
quits. What more do you want?"

The Pervian attaché did not betray the least embarrassment. He put his
two elbows on the table and said, very calmly:

"Monsieur, when treating with you, three years ago, I thought I was
dealing with a gentleman who, hiding himself under the uniform of the
Foreign Legion, wished to recover the means to live respectably
afterward. To-day, I have to do with the universal legatee of Cosmo
Mornington, with a man who, to-morrow, under a false name, will receive
the sum of one million francs and, in a few months, perhaps, the sum of a
hundred millions. That's quite a different thing."

The argument seemed to strike Don Luis. Nevertheless, he objected:

"And, if I refuse--?"

"If you refuse, I shall inform the solicitor and the Prefect of Police
that I made an error in my inquiry and that there is some mistake about
Don Luis Perenna. In consequence of which you will receive nothing at all
and very likely find yourself in jail."

"With you, my worthy sir."

"Me?"