"Eh! Ne bogartez pas," said De Brie.
"What a remarkable emerald!" cried Château-Renard, swishing his tail. "I have never seen the like even in the chicken-coops of the wargues."
"It is not an emerald, but an elessard, custom-made for me by the firm of Celebrimboro, a jeweller so exclusive that he had never accepted a customer since the fall of Sauron," replied Monte Fato. "I had three such. I gave one to the Great Lord of the Dead of Doun-Harou, and he placed it on his sabre; the second I gave to the Lady of the Galadrini, and she had it encrusted on her tiara; I have kept the third for myself, and had it hollowed out, which diminishes its value, but renders it more apt for my purposes."
"And what did those sovereigns give you in exchange for such treasures?" said De Brie.
"The Lord of the Dead, the liberty of a spider; Galadriella, the life of a hobbite," replied the Count, retrieving his opium ring and inhaling it.
"Éarendeau is returned!" cried the Viscount.
"He has never been away," said Monte Fato. "I am Éarendeau as well as the Count, and belong to Lottaloria and Arnor as well as to the South."
