"I'll give you my all,—I'll give you all I have! I've a couple of hundreds of Mr. Rety's money too, and you are welcome to them, though I shall have to refund them, and——"
"I don't want your money!" said Viola, scornfully. "I want the papers you stole from the notary."
"The papers?" said the attorney, with a look of profound astonishment; "what papers does it please you to mean, my dear Mr. Viola?"
"I mean the papers which you took away when they bound me. If you don't give them up this minute, you'll never rise from this bed."
The robber's tone showed Mr. Catspaw that it was dangerous to trifle with him. He replied,—
"Yes, I had them! You are right, I took them from you; but I lament to say I was rash enough to burn them on the spot. That's the truth of it. I would not tell you a lie, no! not for the world; for you know all and everything."
"If so, tell your lies to others. I know that you keep the papers in this room, and that you've offered them to Lady Rety for fifty thousand florins."
"Who can have told you that?" cried Mr. Catspaw, as a suspicion flashed through his mind that Viola might possibly be hired by Lady Rety; "who? who?"
"Never you mind who it was?" said Viola, dryly; "if you think your life of less value than fifty thousand florins, I'll show you in an instant how little I care for it."
"But do tell me!" cried the attorney, "do tell me who told you that the papers are in my room?—who has sent you?"