“Let me recall it to you, nevertheless. Over in his own country they are descendants of one of the oldest families of the oldest province of France—Anjou. There he possesses large estates, a château, and all that the heart of a Frenchman desires, save the one necessity, money. He became a pirate in order to possess himself of that necessary money. He had decided that there were hundreds of rich men in this country from whom he could purloin certain large sums which would mean a fortune to him, but which would not affect them, even after they had been robbed. His idea was that they were so rich that they would never miss at all what he took from them.”
“Yes; I remember all that.”
“His only idea in becoming a pirate was to restore his fallen fortunes; to redeem his estates; to rebuild his château; to become a grandee, as his ancestors had been for many generations before him; to settle down there at last, in quiet and in happiness, rich, admired, respected, and esteemed. And he would have accomplished it, too, if he had not run up against you, Kane.”
“Say, rather, against you, Nick.”
“Oh! well, it is the same thing. We were fortunate in cutting short his piratical career, and he is now paying the penalty for his misdeeds. Now, Kane, I am satisfied that this brother, the real count, is a better man than the one we captured. There is more of the gentility of his family in him. I have never thought that he was entirely a willing party to the pirate business. He was an accessory, of course, because he remained quiescent, and did not betray his brother, but I doubt very much if he ever willingly committed a piratical act, or stole, until he first stole the Shadow from her moorings here in the city, and then held you up in mid-ocean.”
“Well?”
“Now, we are endeavoring to trace his course across the ocean, are we not?”
“Yes.”
“Then we have to consider why he has done the things he has.”
“Sure.”