"And yet, it is so," said the Count. "But as I recognize in myself no other merit than to be able to compete in affluence with M. Lathschpelle or M. Angbando, and I do not go to Annuminas to play the Bourse, that little circumstance held me back. Now your offer has decided me. Do you engage, M. de Pérégrin" (the Count accompanied these words with a singular smile, not unlike that of the Bouche de Sauron), "do you engage, while I am in Arnor, to open for me the gates of a world to which I am as foreign as a Druadain or a Calorminois?"
"Oh, as for that, my dear Count, à merveilles and with pleasure!" said Réginard. "And all the more willingly since I am engaged to an alliance with a very agreeable family that possesses the best possible relations with le monde annuminasien."
"I cannot imagine a better occasion for realizing certain projects on which I've been ruminating for quite some time," said the Count with an almost Orkish nonchalance. Arafrantz regarded the Count in an attempt to perceive in his physiognomy some indication of the designs he had in mind, but it was difficult to penetrate the soul of that man, when he veiled it with a smile and a ring.
"My address is rue Baguechotte, N° 3. But are these not plans built upon air, like the lamented Church of St. Ménétarmeau, which was defaced by wayward eagles?" said Réginard.
