The Count of Monte Cristo

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proof of the great confidence placed in me; my title of popular banker
has gained me the confidence of charitable institutions, and the five
millions and a half belong to them; at any other time I should not have
hesitated to make use of them, but the great losses I have recently
sustained are well known, and, as I told you, my credit is rather
shaken. That deposit may be at any moment withdrawn, and if I had
employed it for another purpose, I should bring on me a disgraceful
bankruptcy. I do not despise bankruptcies, believe me, but they must
be those which enrich, not those which ruin. Now, if you marry M.
Cavalcanti, and I get the three millions, or even if it is thought I am
going to get them, my credit will be restored, and my fortune, which
for the last month or two has been swallowed up in gulfs which have
been opened in my path by an inconceivable fatality, will revive. Do you
understand me?"

"Perfectly; you pledge me for three millions, do you not?"