"Why do I say that?" stormed Prilukoff. "Why? Because I had a wife and I
betrayed her for you; I had two children and I forsook them for you; I
had a career and I lost it for you; I was a man of honor and I have
turned thief for you."
"Oh, no, no!" I stammered, terrified.
"What? No? No?" he exclaimed, and with trembling hands he searched his
breast-pocket and drew from it a bulky roll of banknotes. "No? This I
stole--and this--and this--and this--because you, vampire that you are,
needed money."
"But I never told you to steal--"
"No, indeed; you never told me to steal. And where was I to get the
money from? Where? Where?" So saying, he flung the banknotes in my face
and they fell all over and around me. "You did not tell me to steal, no.
But you wanted money, money, money. And now you have got it. Take it,
take it, take it!"