"What are you going to do with me?"
"I am not sure. Only do not hope for mercy. You know too much. I might make away with you at once—"
"But why spill blood?" he went on, musing aloud. "The guillotine will do your business in due course if I hand you over to the law. That will be best, safest; the most complete riddance, perhaps."
There was a pause.
"You see you are altogether in my power," said Ledantec, "either way. But I am not unreasonable. I am prepared to spare you—for the present," he said, with an evil smile—"only for the present, and according as you may behave."
"On what conditions will you spare me—for the present?" asked Hyde, elated at the unexpected chance thus given him.
"Tell me how you came to know of this address. Who sent you here?"
"Valetta Joe, the Maltese baker at Kadikoi."
"Describe him to me," asked Ledantec, to try Hyde.
Hyde had seen Joe more than once in his rides through the hut-town, and his answer was perfectly satisfactory.