"You do me a great honour, sir; but all this does not tell me--" "Zounds! I am coming to it, sir--a little patience. How quick you are! Take care: in your profession a man must be cool before all else, and you are not so at this moment." "You are very witty, sir," the stranger said, bowing ironically to his opponent. The latter was offended by this sudden attack, and smote the table with his fist. "Here is your history in two words, sir," he said. "You are an Andalusian, born at Malaga, a younger son, and consequently destined to take orders. One fine day, not feeling any liking for the tonsure, you fled from the paternal roof and embarked on a Spanish vessel bound for Hispaniola. Your name is Don Antonio de la Ronda. You see, sir, that up to this point I am well informed, am I not?" "Pray go on, sir," the stranger replied, with perfect coolness; "your remarks are most interesting." Montbarts shrugged his shoulders, and went on. "On arriving at Hispaniola, you contrived, in a short time, thanks to your good looks and polished manners, to secure powerful protectors; and thus, though you only left Europe three years ago, you have made such rapid progress, that you are at present one of the most influential men in the colony. Unluckily--" "Do you say unluckily?" the stranger interrupted with a jeering smile. "Yes, sir," the adventurer replied imperturbably; "unluckily your fortune turned your head so thoroughly--" "So thoroughly?" "That in defiance of your friends, you were arrested and threatened with a trial for embezzling a sum of nearly two million piastres; a noble amount, on which I compliment you. Any other man but you, sir, I feel a pleasure in allowing the fact, would have been ruined, or nearly so, as the case was very serious; and the Council of the Indies does not joke on money matters." "Permit me to interrupt you, my dear sir," the stranger said with the most perfect ease; "you are telling this story in a very talented manner, but if you go on so, it threatens to last indefinitely. If you permit it, I will finish it in a few words." "Ah! Ah! Then you allow its truth now?" "Of course," the stranger said with admirable coolness. "You acknowledge yourself to be Don Antonio de la Ronda?" "Why should I deny it longer, when you are so well informed?" "Better still; so that you confess to fraudulently entering the colony for the object of--" "I confess anything you like," the Spaniard said quickly. "Well, that being well established, you deserve to be hung, and you will be so in a few minutes." "Well, no," he replied without losing any of his coolness; "that is where we differ essentially in opinion, sir, your conclusion is not in the least logical." "What?" the adventurer exclaimed, surprised at this sudden change of humour which he did not expect. "I said that your conclusion was not logical." "I heard you perfectly." "And I am going to prove it," he continued; "grant me in your turn a few moments' attention."