Taking up a quill, I dipped it
in the ink-horn that stood by, and drew towards me a sheet of paper.
"When you lured me into the wager touching Mademoiselle de Lavedan,"
said I calmly, "you did so, counting upon certain circumstances, of
which you alone had knowledge, that should render impossible the
urging of my suit. That, Monsieur le Comte, was undeniably the
action of a cheat. Was it not?"
"Damnation!" he roared, and would have risen, but, my hand upon his
arm, I restrained him and pressed him back into his chair.
"By a sequence of fortuitous circumstances," I pursued, "it became
possible for me to circumvent the obstacle upon which you had based
your calculations. Those same circumstances led later to my being
arrested in error and in place of another man. You discovered how
I had contravened the influence upon which you counted; you trembled
to see how the unexpected had befriended me, and you began to fear
for your wager.
"What did you do? Seeing me arraigned before you in your quality
as King's Commissioner, you pretended to no knowledge of me; you
became blind to my being any but Lesperon the rebel, and you
sentenced me to death in his place, so that being thus definitely
removed I should be unable to carry out my undertaking, and my
lands should consequently pass into your possession. That, monsieur,
was at once the act of a thief and a murderer. Wait, monsieur;
restrain yourself until I shall have done.
Pages:
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203