"
"Ah, no!" cried the count; "I shall find some expedient."
The obstinate old gentleman was not willing to give in to this argument,
the very clearness of which blinded him. The pride of his blood
paralyzed his usual practical good sense. To acknowledge that he was
conquered humiliated him, and seemed to him unworthy of himself. He did
not remember to have met during his long career an invincible resistance
or an absolute impediment. He was like all men of imagination, who
fall in love with their projects, and who expect them to succeed on all
occasions, as if wishing hard was all that was necessary to change their
dreams into realities.
Albert this time broke the silence, which threatened to be prolonged.
"I see, sir," he said, "that you fear, above all things, the publicity
of this sad history; the possible scandal renders you desperate. But,
unless we yield, the scandal will be terrible. There will be a trial
which will be the talk of all Europe. The newspapers will print the
facts, accompanied by heavens knows what comments of their own. Our
name, however the trial results, will appear in all the papers of the
world. This might be borne, if we were sure of succeeding; but we are
bound to lose, my father, we shall lose.
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