'Rubbish!' the old lord shouted in a rage, whilst the others stormed against the medium for repeating to them his invariable reason to account for disappointment. 'Rubbish! how can we have failed in faith when we have believed in you as in Jesus Christ? How can you say faith is wanting when, to reward your overflow of chatter, we have paid through the nose? You have pocketed thousands of francs in these three years. Don't deny it. Have we no faith? We, who have had Masses, prayers, and rosaries said; we, who have knelt and beat our breasts, asking the Lord's favour—have we no faith? Why, we must have had it! How can you account otherwise for the squandering of money, for the way we wasted our own means and our families', thus causing such unhappiness that it would have been nothing but a crime if we had not believed in you? You say we have no faith; you have been our God for three years, you have deceived us, and we never said anything, but went on believing in you after you had taken every penny from us.'
'Everything—you have taken everything!' shouted the company.
'You insult me, that is enough,' said the medium, getting up resolutely. 'I am going away. Good-evening.'
'You do not leave this till we get satisfaction!' the Marquis di Formosa cried out. 'Is it not the case that he will not get out of this till he does?' he asked the assembled Cabalists.
'No, no, no!' the company of these cruel madmen shouted ferociously.
The medium understood, a deadly hue spread over his pallid cheeks, his frightened glance wandered round in a desperate attempt to fly; but the fierce gamblers had got up and made a circle round him. Some of them were very pale, as if they were keeping down strong emotion, the others were red with rage. In all their eyes the medium read the same implacable cruelty.
'I wish to go away,' he said in a whisper, with that hoarse tone that gave such a mysterious attraction to his voice.
'None of us would wish to detain you,' said the Marquis di Formosa with ironical deference, 'if we had not need of you. If you do not give us lottery numbers, you don't leave this!' he ended up by shouting in a fit of fury.
'Lottery numbers, lottery numbers!' hissed Colaneri's thin voice.
'If not, you don't get out of this!' shrieked Ninetto Costa.