"You meet the man in Paris?" I went on.
"To-night I shall be with him," he answered; "within three days I win all or lose all: for his secret will be mine. If I fail, it is for you to follow up the thread which I have unravelled by three years' hard work——"
"What sort of person do you say he is?" I continued, and he replied—
"You shall see for yourself. Dare you risk coming with me—I meet him at eight o'clock?"
"Dare I risk!—pooh, there can't be much danger."
"There is every danger!—but, so, the girl is waking!"
It was true; Mary looked up suddenly as we thundered past the fortifications of Paris, and said, as people do say in such circumstances, "Why, I believe I've been asleep!" Roderick shook himself like a great bear, and asked if we had passed Chantilly; the Perfect Fool began his banter, and roared for a cab as the lights of the station twinkled in the semi-darkness. I could scarce believe, as I watched his antics, that he was the man who had spoken to me of great mysteries ten minutes before. Still less could I convince myself that he had not many days to live. So are the fateful things of life hidden from us.
CHAPTER II.
I MEET CAPTAIN BLACK.