"Your reputation as a vampyre, Sir Francis Varney, you mean?"
"Yes; but there is no occasion for you to utter my name aloud, even here where we are alone together."
"It came out unawares."
"Unawares! Can it be possible that you have so little command over yourself as to allow a name to come from your lips unawares?"
"Sometimes."
"I am surprised."
"Well, it cannot be helped. What do you now propose to do?"
"Nay, you are my privy councillor. Have you no deep-laid, artful project in hand? Can you not plan and arrange something which may yet have the effect of accomplishing what at first seemed so very simple, but which has, from one unfortunate circumstance and another, become full of difficulty and pregnant with all sorts of dangers?"
"I must confess I have no plan."
"I listen with astonishment."