ctly
ridiculous--stupid! You had better tell me at once that you intend
starving me to death."

"Oh, dear, no, your excellency, unless you intend to commit suicide. Pay
and eat."

"And what am I to pay with, brute?" said Danglars, enraged. "Do you
suppose I carry 100,000 francs in my pocket?"

"Your excellency has 5,050,000 francs in your pocket; that will be fifty
fowls at 100,000 francs apiece, and half a fowl for the 50,000."

Danglars shuddered. The bandage fell from his eyes, and he understood
the joke, which he did not think quite so stupid as he had done just
before. "Come," he said, "if I pay you the 100,000 francs, will you be
satisfied, and allow me to eat at my ease?"

"Certainly," said Peppino.

"But how can I pay them?"

"Oh, nothing easier; you have an account open with Messrs. Thomson &
French, Via dei Banchi, Rome; give me a draft for 4,998 louis on these
gentlemen, and our banker shall take it." Danglars thought it as well
to comply with a good grace, so he took the pen, ink, and paper Peppino
offered him, wrote the draft, and signed it. "Here," he said, "here is a
draft at sight."

"And here is your fowl." Danglars sighed while he carved the fowl;
it appeared very thin for the price it had cost. As for Peppino, he
examined the paper attentively, put it into his pocket, and continued
eating his pease.

Chapter 116. The Pardon.

The next day Danglars was again hungry; certainly the air of that
dungeon was very provocative of appetite. The prisoner expected that
he would be at no expense that day, for like an economical man he had
concealed half of his fowl and a piece of the bread in the corner of his
cell. But he had no sooner eaten than he felt thirsty; he had forgotten
that. He struggled against his thirst till his tongue clave to the
roof of his mouth; then, no longer able to resist, he called out. The
sentinel opened the door; it was a new face. He thought it would be
better to transact business with his old acquaintance, so he sent for
Peppino. "Here I am, your excellency," said Peppino, with an eagerness
which Danglars thought favorable to him. "What do you want?"

"Something to drink."

"Your excellency knows that wine is beyond all price near Rome."

"Then give me water," cried Danglars, endeavoring to parry the blow.

"Oh, water is even more scarce than wine, your excellency,--there has
been such a drought."

"Come," thought Danglars, "it is the same old story." And whil