"No, dearest, I assure you——"
The servant came into the room with a letter addressed to him. He took it from her, and went and shut himself in the study, stating that he must get rid of his correspondence which was in arrears. Obviously he wanted to be alone. Françoise realized it, and was greatly distressed.
As soon as he was in the study, he placed his head in his hands and endeavored to think. His mind was a blank. The shock had been too much for him. He was stunned by it.
He stared at the letter on the table before him without opening it. It bore the Nice postmark. Suddenly he caught hold of it and feverishly, with shaking hands, tore it open. It was not until he had made several attempts that he could read it:
My Dear Captain,
I am of opinion that it is absolutely necessary for us to have an interview. You need not be uneasy, for I do not bear you any ill-will on account of our recent meeting. As soon as you recognized me you did the proper thing. I might have entered into conversation with you there and then, but a discussion in the street, even at ten o'clock at night, is never very safe, and it is desirable that what we have to say to you should, as far as possible, be said among ourselves. My friends are here. I do not hide from you that they also will be delighted to see you again. It is at the shop of one of them, Monsieur Toulouse, secondhand clothes dealer, at the corner of the Rue Basse, in the old town, that I make an appointment with you for five o'clock to-day. We shall wait for you until six o'clock, and if you do not put in an appearance, we shall be entitled to presume that our letter has gone astray, and we shall write to Madame d'Haumont, taking the necessary precautions to insure, this time, that our letter reaches its destination.
The letter was signed "The Parisian."
Strange to say the letter came as a relief to Didier. He would meet the danger face to face. He would know exactly what to fear and what to hope; whether he was to live and for how long.
He gave no thought of the danger to which he might be exposed by keeping the appointment. Either his enemies and himself would "come to an understanding," or they would murder him, and in any event they would be rendering him a service.
When he had mapped out his plan of campaign, he felt sufficiently himself for the time being to deceive Françoise by word and manner and look.