'I suppose I may believe you?' said he, when I had done.
'Or else conclude this interview,' said I.
'Can you not understand that we are here discussing matters of the
gravest import? Can you not understand that I feel myself weighed
with a load of responsibility on your account--that you should take
this occasion to air your fire-eating manners against your own
attorney? There are serious hours in life, Mr. Anne,' he said
severely. 'A capital charge, and that of a very brutal character
and with singularly unpleasant details; the presence of the man
Clausel, who (according to your account of it) is actuated by
sentiments of real malignity, and prepared to swear black white;
all the other witnesses scattered and perhaps drowned at sea; the
natural prejudice against a Frenchman and a runaway prisoner: this
makes a serious total for your lawyer to consider, and is by no
means lessened by the incurable folly and levity of your own
disposition.'
'I beg your pardon!' said I.
'Oh, my expressions have been selected with scrupulous accuracy,'
he replied. 'How did I find you, sir, when I came to announce this
catastrophe? You were sitting on the hearthrug playing, like a
silly baby, with a servant, were you not, and the floor all
scattered with gold and bank paper? There was a tableau for you!
It was I who came, and you were lucky in that.
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