He shaved through this financial crisis, in spite of the blow he had received by the loss of his lawsuits, the flitting of his cousin, Auguste Charron, and the farm debts of this same cousin.

It all meant a series of manipulations made possible by the apparent confidence reposed in him by M.Mornay.
On the day he sold his farm he was by no means out of danger of absolute insolvency--he was in fact ruined; but he was not yet the victim of those processes which would make him legally insolvent.

The vultures were hovering, but they had not yet swooped, and there was the Manor saw-mill going night and day; for by the strangest good luck Jean Jacques received an order for M.Mornay's new railway (Judge Carcasson was behind that) which would keep his saw-mill working twenty-four hours in the day for six months.
"I like his pluck, but still, ten to one, he loses," remarked M.Mornay to Judge Carcasson.

"He is an unlucky man, and I agree with Napoleon that you oughtn't to be partner with an unlucky man." "Yet you have had to do with Monsieur Jean Jacques," responded the aged Judge.
M.Mornay nodded indulgently.
"Yes, without risk, up to the burning of the mill.

Now I take my chances, simply because I'm a fool too, in spite of all the wisdom I see in history and in life's experiences.