“You are unreasonable,” said he, addressing the brothers. “You have seen the paper; M. Séchard’s father told you that he had shut his son up, and that he had made capital paper in a single night from materials that must have cost a mere nothing. You are here to make an offer. Are you purchasers, yes or no?” “Stay,” said the tall Cointet, “whether my brother is willing or no, I will risk this much myself. I will pay M. Séchard’s debts, I will pay six thousand francs over and above the debts, and M. Séchard shall have thirty per cent of the profits. But mind this--if in the space of one year he fails to carry out the undertakings which he himself will make in the deed of partnership, he must return the six thousand francs, and we shall keep the patent and extricate ourselves as best we may.” “Are you sure of yourself?” asked Petit-Claud, taking David aside. “Yes,” said David. He was deceived by the tactics of the brothers, and afraid lest the stout Cointet should break off the negotiations on which his future depended. “Very well, I will draft the deed,” said Petit-Claud, addressing the rest of the party. “Each of you shall have a copy to-night, and you will have all to-morrow morning in which to think it over. To-morrow afternoon at four o’clock, when the court rises, you will sign the agreement. You, gentlemen, will withdraw Métivier’s suit, and I, for my part, will write to stop proceedings in the Court-Royal; we will give notice on either side that the affair has been settled out of court.” David Séchard’s undertakings were thus worded in the deed:-- “M. David Séchard, printer of Angoulême, affirming that he has discovered a method of sizing paper-pulp in the vat, and also a method of affecting a reduction of fifty per cent in the price of all kinds of manufactured papers, by introducing certain vegetable substances into the pulp, either by intermixture of such substances with the rags already in use, or by employing them solely without the addition of rags: a partnership for working the patent to be presently applied for is entered upon by M. David Séchard and the firm of Cointet Brothers, subject to the following conditional clauses and stipulations.” One of the clauses so drafted that David Séchard forfeited all his rights if he failed to fulfil his engagements within the year; the tall Cointet was particularly careful to insert that clause, and David Séchard allowed it to pass. When Petit-Claud appeared with a copy of the agreement next morning at half-past seven o’clock, he brought news for David and his wife. Cérizet offered twenty-two thousand francs for the business. The whole affair could be signed and settled in the course of the evening. “But if the Cointets knew about it,” he added, “they would be quite capable of refusing to sign the deed of partnership, of harassing you, and selling you up.”