'I insist
upon your telling this instant,' said Madame Montoni. 'O dear madam!
I would not tell for a hundred sequins! You would not have me forswear
myself madam!' exclaimed Annette.

'I will not wait another moment,' said Madame Montoni. Annette was
silent.

'The Signor shall be informed of this directly,' rejoined her mistress:
'he will make you discover all.'

'It is Ludovico, who has discovered,' said Annette: 'but for mercy's
sake, madam, don't tell the Signor, and you shall know all directly.'
Madame Montoni said, that she would not.

'Well then, madam, Ludovico says, that the Signor, my master,
is--is--that is, he only thinks so, and any body, you know, madam, is
free to think--that the Signor, my master, is--is--'

'Is what?' said her lady, impatiently.

'That the Signor, my master, is going to be--a great robber--that is--he
is going to rob on his own account;--to be, (but I am sure I don't
understand what he means) to be a--captain of--robbers.'

'Art thou in thy senses, Annette?' said Madame Montoni; 'or is this a
trick to deceive me? Tell me, this instant, what Ludovico DID say to
thee;--no equivocation;--this instant.'

'Nay, madam,' cried Annette, 'if this is all I am to get for having
told the secret'--Her mistress thus continued to insist, and Annette to
protest, till Montoni, himself, appeared, who bade the latter leave the
room, and she withdrew, trembling for the fate of her story. Emily also
was retiring, but her aunt desired she would stay; and Montoni had so
often made her a witness of their contention, that he no longer had
scruples on that account.

'I insist upon knowing this instant, Signor, what all this means:' said
his wife--'what are all these armed men, whom they tell me of, gone
out about?' Montoni answered her only with a look of scorn; and Emily
whispered something to her. 'It does not signify,' said her aunt: 'I
will know; and I will know, too, what the castle has been fortified
for.'

'Come, come,' said Montoni, 'other business brought me here. I must
be trifled with no longer. I have immediate occasion for what I
demand--those estates must be given up, without further contention; or I
may find a way--'

'They never shall be given up,' interrupted Madame Montoni: 'they never
shall enable you to carry on your wild schemes;--but what are these?
I will know. Do you expect the castle to be attacked? Do you expect
enemies? Am I to be shut up here, to be killed in a siege?'