“But it seems so calm, so peaceful now! There seems no hint of anything wrong.”
“The calm is all on the surface. The French people are peculiar. At any moment the storm may break forth. The men who seem so calm and happy at one moment, in another instant may turn to wrangling, raging, bloodthirsty demons. You cannot measure a Frenchman by the standard of an American. They are different, the same as an American differs from an Englishman.”
“But how did you learn so much about this league?”
“Since the day the red star fell before me, I have been doing my best to hunt down the Black Brothers, and gradually I have learned the things just told you.”
“But this star, Merry, is——”
“The sign the Black Brothers give one who has been doomed to die by the death council of the league.”
“And you are one?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because the Duke of Benoit du Sault gave me the metal ball, which he said contained something that might help prove the innocence of Dreyfus.”