"Could we hire a boat from here?"
"You might, but it would be risky, and would cost a lot of money. Then, there's no saying when you would get there. It's a matter of between forty and fifty miles, and the steamers take about five hours getting across; sometimes a little less, generally a little more. There's no depending upon 'em. Look here. You're going to behave to me liberal. You want to follow the party I drove from Athelstan Road this morning."
"Show me the way to get to Boulogne to-day," I said, "and I'll give you another half-sovereign."
"Practical creature!" murmured Devlin. "In human dealings there is but one true touchstone."
"Spoke like a real gentleman," said Bill Foster to me. "What time is it?"
"Five minutes past eleven."
"Wait here; I sha'n't be gone but a few minutes. Get everything ready to start directly I come back."
His trap was standing at the corner of Royal Crescent. He ran out, jumped on the box, and was gone. I called to the waiter, and in three minutes the hotel bill was paid, and we were ready.
During Bill Foster's absence I said to Carton,
"Do you make anything of all this?"