"On that basis?" cried the stranger, not without some alarm.
Lupin smiled again:
"On that basis, no. . . . I am not looking for money. I want something else, something that is worth more to me than any number of millions."
"What is that?"
"My liberty."
"What! Your liberty. . . . But I can do nothing. . . . That concerns your country . . . the law. . . . I have no power."
Lupin went up to him and, lowering his voice still more:
"You have every power, Sire. . . . My liberty is not such an exceptional event that they are likely to refuse you."
"Then I should have to ask for it?"
"Yes."