"Hush!" was the word first spoken; "I have just one question to ask you, and then one thing to tell you; and the last will just depend upon the first."
"Wretch—miscreant—murderer!" exclaimed Richard; "nothing shall now prevent me from securing you on the behalf of justice."
"Fool!" coolly returned the Resurrection Man—for it was he; "who can catch me in the darkness and the open fields?"
"True!" cried Markham, stamping his foot with vexation. "But God grant that the day of retribution may come!"
"Come, come—none of this nonsense, my dear boy," said the Resurrection Man, with diabolical irony. "Now, answer me—will you give me a cool hundred and fifty? If not, then I will get swag in spite of you."
"Why do you thus molest and persecute me? I would sooner handle the most venomous serpent, than enter into a compromise with a fiend like you!"
"Then beware of the consequences!"
The moon shone full upon the cadaverous and unearthly countenance of the Resurrection Man, and revealed the expression of ferocious rage which it wore as he uttered these words. That vile and foreboding face then suddenly disappeared behind the wall.
"Who are you talking to, Markham?" cried the voice of the count, who was now advancing down the avenue.
"Talking to?" repeated Richard, alarmed and confused.