"Private enough, I should presume; for if there be any other means of
reaching the house, surely no one would go through such a dismal hole as
that towards it; but come, make up your mind at once. There need be no
quarrelling upon the subject of our conference, but let it be a plain
matter of yes or no. Is it worth your while to be left alone in peace,
or is it not?" "It is worth my while, but not at such a price as that you mentioned;
and I cannot help thinking that some cheaper mode of accomplishing the
same object will surely present itself very shortly." "I do not understand you; you talk ambiguously." "But my acts," said the baron, "shall be clear and plain enough, as you
shall see. Could you believe it possible that I was the sort of person
to submit tamely to any amount of extortion you chose to practise upon
me. There was a time when I thought you possessed great sense and
judgment when I thought that you were a man who weighed well the chances
of what you were about; but now I know to the contrary; and I think for
less than a thousand pounds I may succeed in ridding myself of you." "I do not understand you; you had better beware how you tamper with me,
for I am not one who will be calmly disposed to put up with much. The
sense, tact, and worldly knowledge which you say you have before, from
time to time, given me credit for, belongs to me still, and I am not
likely easily to commit myself." "Indeed; do you think you bear such a charmed life that nothing can
shake it?" "I think nothing of the sort; but I know what I can do--I am armed." "And I; and since it comes to this, take the reward of your villany; for
it was you who made me what I am, and would now seek to destroy my every
hope of satisfaction." As the baron spoke he drew from his breast a small pistol, which, with
the quickness of thought, he held full in the face of his companion, and
pulled the trigger. There can be no doubt on earth that his intention was to commit the
murder, but the pistol missed fire, and he was defeated in his intention
at that moment. Then the stranger laughed scornfully, and drawing a
pistol from his pocket, he presented it at the baron's head, saying,--

"Do I not bear a charmed life? If I had not, should I have escaped death
from you now? No, I could not; but you perceive that even a weapon that
might not fail you upon another occasion is harmless against me; and can
you expect that I will hesitate now to take full and ample revenge upon
you for this dastardly attempt?" These words were spoken with great volubility, so much so, indeed, that
they only occupied a few very brief seconds in delivering; and then,
perhaps, the baron's career might have ended, for it seemed to be fully
the intention of the other to conclude what he said by firing the pistol
in his face; but the wily aspect of the baron's countenance was, after
all, but a fair index of the mind, and, just as the last words passed
the lips of his irritated companion, he suddenly dropped in a crouching
position to the ground, and, seizing his legs, threw him over his head
in an instant. The pistol was discharged, at the same moment, and then, with a shout of
rage and satisfaction, the baron sprang upon his foe, and, kneeling upon
his breast, he held aloft in his hand a glittering dagger, the
highly-polished blade of which caught the moonbeams, and reflected them
into the dazzled eyes of the conquered man, whose fate now appeared to
be certain. "Fool!" said the baron, "you must needs, then, try conclusions with me,
and, not content with the safety of insignificance, you must be absurd
enough to think it possible you could extort from me whatever sums your
fancy dictated, or with any effect threaten me, if I complied not with
your desires." "Have mercy upon me. I meant not to take your life; and, therefore, why
should you take mine?" "You would have taken it, and, therefore, you shall die. Know, too, as
this is your last moment, that, vampyre as you are, and as I, of all
men, best know you to be, I will take especial care that you shall be
placed in some position after death where the revivifying moonbeams may
not touch you, so that this shall truly be your end, and you shall rot
away, leaving no trace behind of your existence, sufficient to contain
the vital principle." "No--no! you cannot--will not. You will have mercy." "Ask the famished tiger for mercy, when you intrude upon his den." As he spoke the baron ground his teeth together with rage, and, in an
instant, buried the poniard in the throat of his victim. The blade went
through to the yellow sand beneath, and the murderer still knelt upon
the man's chest, while he who had thus received so fatal a blow tossed
his arms about with agony, and tried in vain to shriek. The nature of the wound, however, prevented him from uttering anything
but a low gurgling sound, for he was nearly choked with his own blood,
and soon his eyes became fixed and of a glassy appearance; he stretched
out his two arms, and dug his fingers deep into the sand. The baron drew forth the poniard, and a gush of blood immediately
followed it, and then one deep groan testified to the fact, that the
spirit, if there be a spirit, had left its mortal habitation, and winged
its flight to other realms, if there be other realms for it to wing its
flight to. "He is dead," said the baron, and, at the same moment, a roll of the
advancing tide swept over the body, drenching the living, as well as the
dead, with the brine of the ocean. The baron stooped and rinsed the dagger in the advancing tide from the
clotted blood which had clung to it, and then, wiping it carefully, he
returned it to its sheath, which was hidden within the folds of his
dress; and, rising from his kneeling posture upon the body, he stood by
its side, with folded arms, gazing upon it, for some minutes, in
silence, heedless of the still advancing water, which was already
considerably above his feet. Then he spoke in his ordinary accents, and evidently caring nothing for
the fact that he had done such a deed. "I must dispose of this carcase," he said, "which now seems so lifeless,
for the moon is up, and if its beams fall upon it, I know, from former
experience, what will happen; it will rise again, and walk the earth,
seeking for vengeance upon me, and the thirst for that vengeance will
become such a part of its very nature, that it will surely accomplish
something, if not all that it desires." After a few moments' consideration, he stooped, and, with more strength
than one would have thought it possible a man reduced almost, as he was,
to a skeleton could have exerted, he lifted the body, and carried it
rapidly up the beach towards the cliffs. He threw it down upon the stone
steps that led to the small door of the excavation in the cliff, and it
fell upon them with a sickening sound, as if some of the bones were
surely broken by the fall.