This told all.
Jack and his friends were astounded.
"Are you making us overtures to join you in passing bad money?" demanded young Jack.
"Not bad money," returned Lenoir, "very good money—all my own make."
"It is very evident that you do not know us," said Harry Girdwood, "and so are considerably mistaken. Why you have brought us here and placed yourself in our power, it is utterly beyond me to understand."
Lenoir stared.
"What!"
"The position is most embarrassing," said Jack. "To do our duty would be to repay by great ingratitude your kindness in guiding us about the town, for we ought to denounce you to the police authorities."
This speech partook of the nature of a threat and Pierre Lenoir was up in an instant.
"The worst day's work of your life would be that," he said, fiercely. "No man plays traitor to Pierre Lenoir a second time."