“Are you not afraid that I should inform the government how you have cheated me?”
“You inform! Have not I got you under lock and key? I warrant you, I will take care what goes out of these walls to the government.”
“The countess has a licence to visit me.”
“What care I for that? I can keep her at bay as long as I will. She will not easily go to the government; and she is not such a fool as not to know, that to lodge a complaint against me, is not the way to procure the liberty of a man condemned to perpetual imprisonment. I can at any time trump up a story of your attempting to corrupt the turnkeys, and be sure, when I do, I will not want for proofs. That will cover any thing I can do to annoy you, and answer any accusation you can make against me. Do you think that the word of a jailor will not be taken, before that of the murderer he has in custody?”
“I can bring your own servants as witnesses, three of whom assaulted me last night.”
“Dunce, do you think I trusted them with my secret? They have nothing to tell, and apprehend nothing but a plot between you and my black, who has been put into the penitentiary for his offence. He is my only confident; and I trust him, because his stupidity answers to me for his faith.”
“Suppose I were to double the bribe for which you sold me my liberty, what security should I have that you would abide by your bargain?”
“Oh, if you were to do that, it would alter the case.”
“Might you not then detain the money, and defy me, as you have done now?”