"That is the very thing I wished to do; but I was afraid of being too lavish, for fear that they would suspect the importance of the thing. I thought if I appeared mean and stingy and poor they might conclude that I was some very ordinary person, and that the affair was of a very ordinary kind--concerning very common people. If they suspected the true nature of the case they would be sure to inform the police. As it is, they will hold their tongues; or, at the worst, they will try and track me."
"Track you?" said Hilda, who was struck by something in Gualtier's tone.
"Yes; the fact is--I suppose I ought to tell you--I have been tracked all the way from Leghorn."
"By whom?"
"Black Bill--I don't know how he managed it, but he has certainly kept on my track. I saw him at Brieg, in Switzerland, first; next I saw him in the railway station at Strasbourg; and yesterday I saw him in London, standing opposite the door of my lodgings, as I was leaving for this place."
"That looks bad," said Hilda, seriously.
"He is determined to find out what this business is, and so he watches me. He doesn't threaten, he doesn't demand money--he is simply watching. His game is a deep one."
"Do you suppose that the others are with him?"
"Not at all. I think he is trying to work this up for himself."
"It is bad," said Hilda. "How do you know that he is not in this village?"