“But my honor is engaged; I cannot allow myself to be spurned in the manner I told you.” “You _have_ been spurned, however; and that calls for vengeance. You have no time to lose, remember, in foolery. Your funds are nearly exhausted, and nothing is coming in. You _must_ strike a blow.” “Surely, Eurotas, you would prefer my trying to get this wealth by honorable,” (Eurotas smiled at the idea coming into either of their minds) “rather than by foul, means.” “Get it, get it any way, provided it be the surest and the speediest. You know our compact. Either the family is restored to wealth and splendor, or it ends in and with you. It shall never linger on in disgrace, that is, in poverty.” “I know, I know, without your every day reminding me of the bitter condition,” said Fulvius, wringing his hands, and writhing in all his body. “Give me time enough, and all will be well.” “I give you time, till all is hopeless. Things do not look bright at present. But, Fulvius, it is time that I tell you who I am.” “Why, were you not my father’s faithful dependant, to whose care he intrusted me?” “I was your father’s elder brother, Fulvius, and am the head of the family. I have had but one thought, but one aim in life, the restoring of our house to that greatness and splendor, from which my father’s negligence and prodigality had brought it down. Thinking that your father, my brother, had greater ability than myself for this work, I resigned my rights and gains to him upon certain terms; one of which was your guardianship, and the exclusive forming of your mind. You know how I have trained you, to care nothing about the means, so that our great ends be carried.” Fulvius, who had been riveted with amazement and deep attention on the speaker, shrunk into himself with shame, at this baring of both their hearts. The dark old man fixed his eyes more intently than ever, and went on: “You remember the black and complicated crime by which we concentrated in your hands the divided remnant of family wealth.” Fulvius covered his face with his hands and shuddered, then said entreatingly, “Oh, spare me that, Eurotas; for heaven’s sake spare me!” “Well, then,” resumed the other, unmoved as ever, “I will be brief. Remember, nephew, that he who does not recoil from a brilliant future, to be gained by guilt, must not shrink from a past that prepared it by crime. For the future will one day be the past. Let our compact, therefore, be straightforward and honest, for there is an honesty even in sin. Nature has given you abundance of selfishness and cunning, and she has given me boldness and remorselessness in directing and applying them. Our lot is cast by the same throw,--we become rich, or die, together.”