"Why not Portugal?"
"Done for Portugal. We will drop you there in passing."
The Count had listened with growing surprise to this conversation, which was incomprehensible to him.
"What is the meaning of all this?" he at length asked.
"It means, Captain," Michael distinctly answered, "that the King has not signed the pardon—that you are a prisoner, and would probably have remained so all your life had not this gentleman, luckily for you, consented to open the door."
"Sir!" the Count exclaimed, making a movement toward the Major.
Michael stopped him.
"Do not be in a hurry to thank him," he said—"wait till he has told you what has occurred, and in what way he found himself obliged to set you at liberty, when he would probably have preferred not to do so."
"Come, come!" said the Count, stamping his foot passionately—"Explain yourself! I understand nothing of all this. I wish to know everything—everything, I tell you!"
"This man will tell you it, Captain; but he is afraid at present of the consequences of his confession, and that is why he hesitates to make it."