"I prefer waiting here," said the messenger, with a smile.
"And why?"
"Your excellency will know when you have read the letter."
"Shall I find you, then, here?"
"Certainly."
Franz entered the hotel. On the staircase he met Maitre Pastrini. "Well?" said the landlord.
"Well—what?" responded Franz.
"You have seen the man who desired to speak with you from your friend?" he asked of Franz.
"Yes, I have seen him," he replied, "and he has handed this letter to me. Light the candle in my apartment, if you please."
The innkeeper gave orders to a servant to go before Franz with a wax-light. The young man had found Maitre Pastrini looking very much alarmed, and this had only made him the more anxious to read Albert's letter; and thus he went instantly toward the wax-light, and unfolded the letter.
It was written and signed by Albert. Franz read it twice before he could comprehend what it contained. It was thus conceived:
"My dear Fellow:
"The moment you have received this, have the kindness to take from my pocket-book, which you will find in the square drawer of the 'secrétaire,' the letter of credit; add your own to it, if it be not sufficient. Run to Torlonia, draw from him instantly four thousand piastres, and give them to the bearer. It is urgent that I should have this money without delay. I do not say more, relying on you as you may rely on me.
"P. S.—I now believe in Italian banditti"
Below these lines were written, in a strange hand, the following in Italian:
"Se alle sei della mattina le quattro mille piastre non sono nelle mie mani, alle sette il Conte Alberto avrà cessato di vivere.
"If by six in the morning the four thousand piastres are not in my hands, by seven o'clock the Viscount Albert de Morcerf will have ceased to live."
This second signature explained all to Franz, who now understood the objection of the messenger to coming up into the apartment; the street was safer for him. Albert, then, had fallen into the hands of the famous chief of banditti in whose existence he had for so long a time refused to believe.
