"I have started."
"Ah! Ah!" said Michael, with a laugh. "It appears that you have stopped on the road, but that has nothing to do with the affair. Is that all?"
"Nearly so."
"Hum! then there is something else?"
"Less than nothing."
"No matter—out with it, for I am very curious. Did not the Count promise you something?"
"Yes."
"How much?"
"Fifty thousand livres," the Major said, with repugnance.
"Ah, ah, that is a tidy sum! And you were setting about earning it in a strange fashion; but I do not wish to refer to that any more. Do you wish to recover your diamond, and at the same time gain the fifty thousand livres promised by the Count? Speak, it depends on yourself."