He found the way by a gift of the tools; and I wish
I had the same gift now; for I've got no other gift that'll earn anything
for me."
These were the last dark or pessimistic words spoken at St. Saviour's by
Jean Jacques; and they were said to the Clerk of the Court, who could not
deny the truth of them; but he wrung the hand of Jean Jacques
nevertheless, and would not leave him night or day. M. Fille was like a
little cruiser protecting a fort when gunboats swarm near, not daring to
attack till their battleship heaves in sight. The battleship was the Big
Financier, who saw that a wreck was now inevitable, and was only
concerned that there should be a fair distribution of the assets. That
meant, of course, that he should be served first, and then that those
below the salt should get a share.
Revelation after revelation had been Jean Jacques' lot of late years, but
the final revelation of his own impotence was overwhelming. When he began
to stir about among his affairs, he was faced by the fact that the law
stood in his way. He realized with inward horror his shattered egotism
and natural vanity; he saw that he might just as well be in jail; that he
had no freedom; that he could do nothing at all in regard to anything he
owned; that he was, in effect, a prisoner of war where he had been the
general commanding an army.
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