"Listen," he said, "they may try to kill me, but I have a will, too, and I say that I will not die till I have found a successor to carry on—to the end—what I have begun. Mind, it is no coward's game! It is a walk with death, hand in hand, all the way."
He raised suddenly a warning finger. There was a knock at the door. The nurse who answered it came to the bedside.
"The gentleman has stayed long enough," she announced. "He must go now!"
I rose and held out my hand. He held it between his for a moment, and his eyes sought mine.
"You will come—to-morrow?"
"I will come," I promised. "To-morrow evening."
CHAPTER VII
A TÊTE-À-TÊTE DINNER
At about nine o'clock the following morning a note was brought to my room addressed to me in a lady's handwriting. I tore it open at once. It was, as I bad expected, from Miss Van Hoyt.