“Accept it, and don’t feel indebted to me. It is hardly worth while between you and me.”
And taking Panine’s arm Herzog walked on with him.
“Your carriage is there? all right, mine will follow. I want to talk to you. Your troubles cannot last. I will show you the means of extricating yourself and that without delay, my dear sir.”
And without consulting Panine he seated himself beside him in the carriage.
“I told you once, if you remember,” continued the financier, “that I might prove useful to you. You were haughty, and I did not insist; yet you see the day has come. Let me speak frankly with you. It is my usual manner, and there is some good in it.”
“You find yourself at this moment, vulgarly speaking, left in the lurch. Your wants are many and your resources few.”
“Good! There you are refractory,” said the financier, laughingly, “and I have not finished. The day after your marriage you formed your household on a lavish footing; you gave splendid receptions; you bought race-horses; in short, you went the pace like a great lord. Undoubtedly it costs a lot of money to keep up such an establishment. As you spent without counting the cost, you confounded the capital with the interest, so that at this moment you are three parts ruined. I don’t think you would care to change your mode of living, and it is too late in the day to cut down expenses and exist on what remains? No. Well, to keep up your present style you need at least a million francs every year.”
“You calculate like Cocker,” remarked Serge, smiling with some constraint.
“That is my business,” answered Herzog. “There are two ways by which you can obtain that million. The first is by making it up with your mother-in-law, and consenting, for money, to live under her dominion. I know her, she will agree to this.”
“In that case you must get out of your difficulties alone.”
“And how?” inquired the Prince, with astonishment.
“By entering on the path which I am ready to open up to you,” replied Herzog, “and in which I will guide you. By going in for business.”
Serge returned Herzog’s glance and tried to read his face, but found him impenetrable.
“To go into business one needs experience, and I have none.”
“Mine will suffice,” retorted the financier.