"Tell me," cried Danglars, with a bitterness which Harpagon alone could give to the human voice—"tell me that you wish to despoil me of all; it will be sooner over than devouring me piecemeal."
"It is possible such may be the master's intention."
"The master!—who is he?"
"The person to whom you were conducted yesterday."
"Where is he?"
"Here."
"Let me see him."
"Certainly."
And the next moment Luigi Vampa appeared before Danglars.
"You sent for me?" he said to the prisoner.
"Are you, sir, the chief of the people who brought me here?"
"Yes, your excellency. What then?"
"How much do you require for my ransom?"
"Merely the five millions you have about you." Danglars felt a dreadful spasm dart through his heart.
"But this is all I have left in the world," he said, "out of an immense fortune. If you deprive me of that, take away my life also."
"We are forbidden to shed your blood."
"And by whom are you forbidden?"
"By him we obey."
"You do, then, obey some one?"
"Yes, a chief."
"I thought you said you were the chief?"
"So I am of these men; but there is another over me."
"Arid this chief obeys some one?"
"Yes—God."
Danglars remained thoughtful. "I do not understand you," he said.
"That is possible."
"And did your superior tell you to treat me thus?"
"Yes."
"With what view!"
"I do not know."
"But my purse will be exhausted?"
"Probably."
"Come," said Danglars, "will you take a million?"
"No."
"Two millions?—three?—four? Come, four? I will give them to you on condition that you let me go."
