"Certainly not," I answered. "It was not my affair, and in your position I can conceive that there may be many reasons for your desiring to travel incognito."
He smiled a little wearily.
"Yet it would tax your ingenuity, I imagine," he continued, "to account for my travelling in company with Mrs. Van Reinberg and her daughters."
"It is not my affair," I answered. "We Englishmen are supposed to have learnt the secret of minding our own business."
"You Englishmen, certainly," he answered, "but not always your servants."
I looked at him a little puzzled. His words had seemed to possess some special significance.
"You will not, I am sure, take offence at what I am about to say, Mr. Courage," he continued; "but may I ask if you have confidence in the manservant who is now travelling with you?"
It was a shock, but I fancy that I remained unmoved.
"You mean my man Peters?" I inquired. "I can guarantee his honesty certainly."
"Can you also guarantee," Mr. de Valentin asked me, "that he is simply what he professes to be—a valet, and not, for instance, a spy?"