"And this," said Pseudonimo, "is, if I am not mistaken, Neptune, the irritant of Ulmon, who is likewise unique."
"The very same."
"Impossible!" cried all the guests.
"Voilà precisely what amuses me," said Monte Fato. "I am like Auromé, farondo úpossibilion. And voilà what makes this meat, which perhaps in reality is not equal to a good homely meal, hot out of the pot, seem exquisite to you; the fact that it seems impossible to acquire, and yet here it is."
"But how has one transported these two fish to Annuminas?"
"Oh, mon Érou! Nothing is more simple: I sent two of my Chevaliers out on pterodactyls, the one to Hellecaraix, the other to Valinor, and had them stun the fish with their Rings; then they used their powers first to transport them to the Isle of Monte Fato, where they sautéed them on the volcano, and then here."
"You are a prodigious man," said Sacqueville-Danglars. "And whatever the philosophers may say, it is a fine thing to be rich."
"And especially to have ideas," said the baroness.
"Oh, I do not merit that honor, madame," said the Count. "I but follow in the footsteps of Morgot and Sauron."
