to
the singular personage who had caused this scene, he said, "Your pardon,
your excellency, but I was so far from expecting the honor of a visit,
that I did not really recognize you."

"It seems that your memory is equally short in everything, Vampa," said
the count, "and that not only do you forget people's faces, but also the
conditions you make with them."

"What conditions have I forgotten, your excellency?" inquired the
bandit, with the air of a man who, having committed an error, is anxious
to repair it.

"Was it not agreed," asked the count, "that not only my person, but also
that of my friends, should be respected by you?"

"And how have I broken that treaty, your excellency?"

"You have this evening carried off and conveyed hither the Vicomte
Albert de Morcerf. Well," continued the count, in a tone that made
Franz shudder, "this young gentleman is one of my friends--this young
gentleman lodges in the same hotel as myself--this young gentleman has
been up and down the Corso for eight hours in my private carriage, and
yet, I repeat to you, you have carried him off, and conveyed him hither,
and," added the count, taking the letter from his pocket, "you have set
a ransom on him, as if he were an utter stranger."

"Why did you not tell me all this--you?" inquired the brigand chief,
turning towards his men, who all retreated before his look. "Why have
you caused me thus to fail in my word towards a gentleman like the
count, who has all our lives in his hands? By heavens, if I thought one
of you knew that the young gentleman was the friend of his excellency, I
would blow his brains out with my own hand!"

"Well," said the count, turning towards Franz, "I told you there was
some mistake in this."

"Are you not alone?" asked Vampa with uneasiness.

"I am with the person to whom this letter was addressed, and to whom
I desired to prove that Luigi Vampa was a man of his word. Come, your
excellency," the count added, turning to Franz, "here is Luigi Vampa,
who will himself express to you his deep regret at the mistake he has
committed." Franz approached, the chief advancing several steps to meet
him. "Welcome among us, your excellency," he said to him; "you heard
what the count just said, and also my reply; let me add that I would
not for the four thousand piastres at which I had fixed your friend's
ransom, that this had happened."

"But," said Franz, looking round him uneasily, "where is the
Viscount?--I do