Vautrin What? Do you take me, who have trained your hand to the pistol, who have shown you how to draw the sword, have taught you not to dread the strongest laborer of the faubourg, who have done for your brains what I have done for your body, have set you above all men, and anointed you my king, do you take me for a dolt? Come, now, let us have a little more frankness. Raoul Do you wish me to tell you what I was thinking?--But no, that would be to accuse my benefactor. Vautrin Your benefactor! You insult me. Do you think I have devoted to you my life, my blood, shown myself ready to kill, to assassinate your enemy, in order that I may receive that exorbitant interest called gratitude? Have I become an usurer of this kind? There are some men who would hang the weight of a benefit around your heart like a cannon-ball attached to the feet of----, but let that pass! Such men I would crush as I would a worm, without thinking that I had committed homicide! No! I have asked you to adopt me as your father, that my heart may be to you what heaven is to the angels, a space where all is happiness and confidence; that you may tell me all your thoughts, even those which are evil. Speak, I shall understand everything, even an act of cowardice. Raoul God and Satan must have conspired to cast this man of bronze. Vautrin It is quite possible. Raoul I will tell you all. Vautrin Very good, my son; let us sit down. Raoul You have been the cause to me of opprobrium and despair. Vautrin Where? When? Blood of a man! Who has wounded you? Who has proved false to you? Tell me the place, name the people--the wrath of Vautrin shall descend upon them! Raoul You can do nothing. Vautrin Child, there are two kinds of men who can do anything. Raoul And who are they? Vautrin Kings, who are, or who ought to be, above the law; and--this will give you pain--criminals, who are below it. Raoul But since you are not king-- Vautrin Well! I reign in the region below. Raoul What horrible mockery is this, Vautrin? Vautrin Did you not say that God and the devil hobnobbed to cast me? Raoul Heavens, sir, you make me shudder! Vautrin Return to your seat! Calm yourself, my son. You must not be astonished at anything, if you wish to escape being an ordinary man.