To refuse is madness. You are offered the chance of a
lifetime."
Ambrose did not reply to him immediately. It had come to him suddenly
that this was the hour of a great temptation, and he sat very still,
conscious that his heart beat fast because of the evil that was near
him. The Count watched him, meanwhile, as a wild beast may watch its
prey. The man's eyes appeared to have turned to coals of fire; his
fingers twitched; his teeth were on edge--he had even ceased to smoke.
"Well?" he said at last, unable to suffer the silence any longer.
Ambrose rose from his chair and went over slowly to the great safe,
which stood in the corner of his office; he unlocked it and took some
documents from a shelf upon the right-hand side. The Count stood at his
elbow while he did so, and he could feel the man's breath warm upon his
shoulder.
Suddenly a violent impulse overcame him. He swung round and seized the
fellow by the collar, and in an instant, endowed as it were with
superhuman strength, he hurled the man into the safe and turned the key
upon him.
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