Lupin mumbled:

"I wouldn't give twopence for my life."

He shut his eyes for an instant and then, suddenly, said to Gabriel:

"How much?"

And, when the other did not appear to understand, he grew irritated:

"I mean what I say. How much? Answer me, can't you? We drive the same
trade, you and I. I steal, thou stealest, we steal. So we ought to come
to terms: that's what we are here for. Well? Is it a bargain? Shall we
clear out together. I will give you a post in my gang, an easy,
well-paid post. How much do you want for yourself? Ten thousand? Twenty
thousand? Fix your own price; don't be shy. There's plenty to be had for
the asking."

An angry shiver passed through his frame as he saw the impassive face of
his keeper:

"Oh, the beggar won't even answer! Why, you can't have been so fond of
old Dugrival as all that! Listen to me: if you consent to release
me...."

But he interrupted himself. The young man's eyes wore the cruel
expression which he knew so well. What was the use of trying to move
him?

"Hang it all!" he snarled. "I'm not going to croak here, like a dog! Oh,
if I could only...."

Stiffening all his muscles, he tried to burst his bonds, making a
violent effort that drew a cry of pain from him; and he fell back upon
his bed, exhausted.

"Well, well," he muttered, after a moment, "it's as the widow said: my
goose is cooked. Nothing to be done. _De profundis_, Lupin."

A quarter of an hour passed, half an hour....

Gabriel, moving closer to Lupin, saw that his eyes were shut and that
his breath came evenly, like that of a man sleeping. But Lupin said:

"Don't imagine that I'm asleep, youngster. No, people don't sleep at a
moment like this. Only I am consoling myself. Needs must, eh?... And
then I am thinking of what is to come after.... Exactly. I have a little
theory of my own about that. You wouldn't think it, to look at me, but I
believe in metempsychosis, in the transmigration of souls. It would take
too long to explain, however.... I say, boy ... suppose we shook hands
before we part? You won't? Then good-bye. Good health and a long life to
you, Gabriel!..."

He closed his eyelids and did not stir again before Mme. Dugrival's
return.

The widow entered with a lively step, at a few minutes before twelve.
She seemed greatly excited:

"I have the money," she said to her nephew. "Run away. I'll join you in
the motor down below."

"But...."

"I don't want your help to finish him of