I had feared a still more violent outburst from him, but my admonition brought him to himself.
"I apologize," he said, the red fading from his face.

"Tell me the whole matter, so that I may comprehend.

I'll listen in silence." "The vital fact," I said, "is that, although I fully expected my uncle, in his will, to free Agathemer, he not only did not free him, but he enjoined me not to free him within five years after my entrance into my inheritance." "Well," said Tanno, "I take back what I said of you when I called you a hog, but, even if we are taught to utter nothing but good of the dead, I repeat that your uncle was a hog.

What do you think of it, Agathemer ?" Agathemer sat at ease now on his stool and his face was placid.
"Since you have asked what I think," he said, "may I assume that you accord me permission to utter what I think, as if I were even a free man ?" "Utter precisely what you think, without any reservations or modifications," said Tanno.

"I want to have exactly what you think and all you think." "I think," spoke Agathemer, "that you are neither wise to speak so of the dead nor justified in speaking so of my former master.