As it was, I went with a heart divided; and the thought of my treasure thus left unprotected, save by a paltry lid and lock that any one might break or pick open, put me in a perspiration whenever I had the time to remember it.

The lawyer brought us to a room, begged us to be seated while he should hold a consultation with the doctor, and, slipping out of another door, left Alain and myself closeted together.
Truly he had done nothing to ingratiate himself; his every word had been steeped in unfriendliness, envy, and that contempt which (as it is born of anger) it is possible to support without humiliation.

On my part, I had been little more conciliating; and yet I began to be sorry for this man, hired spy as I knew him to be.

It seemed to me less than decent that he should have been brought up in the expectation of this great inheritance, and now, at the eleventh hour, be tumbled forth out of the house door and left to himself, his poverty and his debts--those debts of which I had so ungallantly reminded him so short a time before.

And we were scarce left alone ere I made haste to hang out a flag of truce.
'My cousin,' said I, 'trust me, you will not find me inclined to be your enemy.' He paused in front of me--for he had not accepted the lawyer's invitation to be seated, but walked to and fro in the apartment--took a pinch of snuff, and looked at me while he was taking it with an air of much curiosity.
'Is it even so ?' said he.