He was a man whose known speculative policy was to "go in" in moments of panic.
M.Grandissime was again face to face with the question of the morning.
To commence selling must be to go on selling.

This, as a plan, included restitution to Aurora; but it meant also dissolution to the Grandissimes, for should their _sold_ titles be pronounced bad, then the titles of other lands would be bad; many an asset among M.Grandissime's memoranda would shrink into nothing, and the meagre proceeds of the Grandissime estates, left to meet the strain without the aid of Aurora's accumulated fortune, would founder in a sea of liabilities; while should these titles, after being parted with, turn out good, his incensed kindred, shutting their eyes to his memoranda and despising his exhibits, would see in him only the family traitor, and he would go about the streets of his town the subject of their implacable denunciation, the community's obloquy, and Aurora's cold evasion.

So much, should he sell.

On the other hand, to decline to sell was to enter upon that disingenuous scheme of delays which would enable him to avail himself and his people of that favorable wind and tide of fortune which the Cession had brought.

Thus the estates would be lost, if lost at all, only when the family could afford to lose them, and Honore Grandissime would continue to be Honore the Magnificent, the admiration of the city and the idol of his clan.