"It is an infamous trap!" M. Favoral was saying. "I should have been
notified--"

"Come, come," interrupted the other. "Were you not fully warned? did
I ever conceal any thing from you?"

Fear, a fear vague still, and unexplained, was slowly taking
possession of the guests; and they remained motionless, their forks
in suspense, holding their breath.

"Never," M. Favoral was repeating, stamping his foot so violently
that the partition shook,--"never, never!"

"And yet it must be," declared M. de Thaller. "It is the only, the
last resource."

"And suppose I will not!"

"Your will has nothing to do with it now. It is twenty years ago
that you might have willed, or not willed. But listen to me, and
let us reason a little."

Here M. de Thaller dropped his voice; and for some minutes nothing
was heard in the dining-room, except confused words, and
incomprehensible exclamations, until suddenly,

"That is ruin," he resumed in a furious tone: "it is bankruptcy on
the last of the month."