“Yes, sir,” he answered. “You are the gentleman who dined with Herr Vooght and M. Dumergue?”
I supposed I was, and opened the note.
“You are generous and forgiving, indeed,” it said (and said it in English). “What reward will you claim? But do be careful. He is dangerous.—M.”
“The devil!” I exclaimed.
The next morning I was aroused at five o’clock by my two friends.
“Good-morning, Herr Vooght,” said I, looking just between them.
“Good-morning,” answered the older man.
“Now, my dear fellow, come along. There’s a cup of coffee downstairs,” said the other, whom I took to be Dumergue.
After coffee, we got into a close carriage with a pair of horses, and drove two or three miles into the country; my companions said little. Dumergue twice asked in a joking way how I felt, and Vooght puzzled me very much by remarking: