"No one knows except myself. They were masked."

"Then, if François is dead, it's all up with you."

Vorski took time to think. The argument allowed of no debate. He put a question in his turn:

"Well, what do you offer me?"

"Your liberty."

"And with it?"

"Nothing."

"Yes, the God-Stone."

"Never!"

Don Luis shouted the word, accompanying it with a vehement gesture of the hand, and he explained: