"I am glad to hear it," Number Ten retorted curtly, "because that will make it easier for you to pay me the ten thousand now."
But this idea amused the General so much that he nearly rolled off his chair laughing.
"Ils sont impayables ces Anglais!" he said, when with streaming eyes and scanty breath he found words to express his sense of the ludicrous. "Why in the name of Tophet should I pay you ten thousand pounds sterling?"
"Because if you don't, those newspaper articles will never be published."
"Ah, bah!" Naniescu exclaimed, with a mocking grin, "who will prevent it?"
"I, of course."
"You, of course? How, I should like to know?"
"That's my business."
"You can't do it, my friend," Naniescu rejoined complacently. "You can't do it. I defy you to do it."
"Is that a challenge?"