“Happy? Who can answer for that? Happiness or unhappiness is the secret known but to one’s self and the walls⁠—walls have ears but no tongue; but if a large fortune produces happiness, Danglars is happy.”

“And Fernand?”

“Fernand? Why, much the same story.”

“But how could a poor Catalan fisher-boy, without education or resources, make a fortune? I confess this staggers me.”

“And it has staggered everybody. There must have been in his life some strange secret that no one knows.”

“But, then, by what visible steps has he attained this high fortune or high position?”

“Both, sir⁠—he has both fortune and position⁠—both.”

“This must be impossible!”