He rose from his chair. Ralph rose too and faced him with imperious gripping eyes.
“Proof or death—that’s what you mean, isn’t it?” he said.
“Yes.”
“Well, my answer is: the seven rings! At once! If not——”
“If not?”
“My friend hands over to the chief commissioner the letter which you wrote to the Baron d’Etigues, instructing him how to capture Josephine Balsamo and ordering him to murder her.”
Beaumagnan pretended to be surprised: “A letter? Instructions to murder?” he said.
Ralph went into details; he said: “Yes, a letter in a kind of code, in which you get at the real meaning by ignoring a number of interposed sentences.”
“Oh, that scrawl—I remember—yes,” said Beaumagnan carelessly.
“A scrawl which constitutes the irrefutable proof you asked for,” said Ralph coldly.