the amount of his own ransom.

The answer to this question almost took his breath away. To his
amazement and horror, the ransom named for him was no less a sum than
ten thousand pounds.

"Will 'Your Majesty' pardon me," said Harry, with great
obsequiousness, and giving to his captor the royal honors which he
claimed--"will 'Your Majesty' pardon me if I assure 'Your Majesty'
that the amount of my ransom is so enormous that it is utterly
impossible for me to pay it?"

At this "His Majesty" smiled, and proceeded to tell Harry the ransoms
fixed for the others: these were--for Russell and his party thirty
thousand pounds, and for Ashby one thousand. The name "Lord Russell"
which "His Majesty" applied to that worthy sounded strange to Harry,
but this was a trifle compared with other things, and so, without
making any reference to this, he replied:

"Thirty thousand pounds! I assure 'Your Majesty' that Russell has not
the fourth part of that in all the world."

"His Majesty" looked incredulous, and told Harry that "Lord Russell"
had himself put his own wealth at two hundred thousand, and that of
his ward at fifty thousand.

At this Harry's heart quaked within him for fear of Katie. Now he
began to see more clearly the danger that there was. Russell, he
thought, had been indulging in some foolish gasconade about himself,
and had let out the secret of Katie's fortune. He wondered why Ashby
had been let off on so small a sum; and thinking that he might not
have heard correctly, he asked again about this. The reply confirmed
what he had heard, and Harry could not help making a remark about the
strange injustice of exacting ten thousand from him and only one
thousand from Ashby. This at once was noticed by "His Majesty," who,
however, proposed, not to lessen the ransom of Harry, but to raise
that of Ashby. He eagerly asked Harry about the wealth of his friend.

"Oh, I don't know," said Harry, who saw that it would not help
himself to have Ashby's ransom raised. "All I do know is this, which
I assure 'Your Majesty' is truth, that to me a ransom of ten thousand
pounds is an impossible sum, and means simply death."

"His Majesty" smiled, assenting at the same time to the statement
that non-payment was equivalent to death.

"In that case," said Harry, "may I ask one favor?"

"His Majesty" graciously assented.

"I should like," said Harry, "to have my valise. There's nothing in
it that I care about except some cigars--"