"That is true. Have you twenty thousand francs income?" "More." "A carpet for these ladies! Are you rich enough to have thirty thousand francs income?" "We have more than that." "Sophocles is a villain whom I shall chastise. Logothète, tell them to prepare dinner for these ladies. May it be possible, Madame, that you are a millionaire?" "I am that." "And I--I am annoyed at the way in which you have been treated. You have, without doubt, fine friends in Athens?" "I know the English Minister." "Oh! Madame! You also know some merchants, some bankers?" "My brother, who is at Athens, knows many bankers in the city." "I am delighted. Sophocles, come here. Ask pardon of these ladies." Sophocles muttered some words between his teeth, I know not what excuses. The King replied: "These ladies are Englishwomen of distinction; they are worth a million or more; they have been received by the English Ambassador; their brother, who is in Athens, knows all the bankers in the city." "That is right!" cried Mrs. Simons. The King continued: "Thou shouldst have treated these ladies with all the regard due their fortune." "Good!" Mrs. Simons cried. "Have conducted them here carefully." "For what purpose?" murmured Mary-Ann. "And abstained from touching their baggage. When one has the honor of meeting, in the mountains, two persons of the rank of these ladies, one should salute them with respect, one should bring them to the camp with deference, one should guard them circumspectly, and one should offer them politely every necessary thing in life, until their brother or their ambassador sends us a ransom of a hundred thousand francs." Poor Mrs. Simons! dear Mary-Ann! Neither expected this termination. As for me, I was not surprised. I knew with what a crafty knave we had to do. I took up the word, and I said to him fiercely: "Thou canst keep what thy men have taken from me, because it is all that thou wilt get from me. I am poor, my father has nothing, my brothers often eat dry bread. I know neither bankers nor ambassadors, and if thou keepest me with the hope of a ransom, thou wilt reap no reward. I swear it to thee!" A murmur of incredulity was heard, but the King appeared to believe me. "If that is true," he said to me, "I will not keep you. I will send you back to the city. Madame will give you a letter for Monsieur, her brother, and you may even leave to-day. If, however, you need to remain a day or two in the mountains, I will offer my hospitality to you; because I suppose that you have not come as far as this, with this large box, in order to look over the country."