"Here it is. Oh, I did not lose it! It was too warmly recommended to me."
The count took it, and, without deigning a glance, threw it on the table. Since his arrival at Pitic he had received twenty a day, and had not answered one; he did not even read them now, as he felt convinced they all meant the same thing.
"And now," he added, "you have finished, I presume?"
"Yes."
"Then listen to me in your turn," he continued, handing him the letter he had prepared for the hunter during his absence. "You will mount this instant, start for Guaymas; give this letter to Don Valentine, and bring me back the answer. You understand?"
"Of course."
"I can rely on your diligence?"
"I start."
He went out. Ten minutes later, Don Louis heard the hurried footfalls of a horse re-echoing before the gateway.
"Tomorrow, at this hour, I shall know on what I have to depend," Don Louis muttered.