“Steward,” he directed, “bring me a glass of Vermouth and some dominoes.”
Peter’s eyes were suddenly bright. Sogrange touched his foot under the table and whispered a word of warning. The dominoes were brought. The newcomer arranged them as though for a game. Then he calmly withdrew the double-four and laid it before Sogrange.
“It has been my misfortune, Marquis,” he said, “never to have made your acquaintance, although our mutual friends are many, and I think I may say that I have the right to claim a certain amount of consideration from you and your associates. You know me?”
“Certainly, Prince,” Sogrange replied. “I am charmed. Permit me to present my friend, the Baron de Grost.”
The newcomer bowed and glanced a little nervously around.
“You will permit me,” he begged. “I travel incognito. I have lived so long in England that I have permitted myself the name of an Englishman. I am traveling under the name of Mr. James Fanshawe.”
“Mr. Fanshawe, by all means,” Sogrange agreed. “In the meantime—”
“I claim my rights as a corresponding member of the Double-Four,” the newcomer declared. “My friend the Count von Hern finds menace to certain plans of ours in your presence upon this steamer. Unknown to him, I come to you openly. I claim your aid, not your enmity.”
“Let us understand one another clearly,” Sogrange said. “You claim our aid in what?”
Mr. Fanshawe glanced around the saloon and lowered his voice.