"Then Henri must have an assistant, bien entendu? Suppose you go as assistant to my son? I give your name on the pass as Monsieur——"
"As Monsieur le Plaisant," added Dacres, a thought flashing across his mind.
"You, then, know a Monsieur le Plaisant?" asked the Frenchman.
"Yes, I believe I do," replied Dacres grimly, with a lively recollection of his prank on the midshipmen on H.M.S "Repulse."
"Bien! Then I will inform Henri. Only, monsieur, if you are detected you will be shot."
"That I quite understand," replied Dacres coolly.
"If you are detected," continued de la Fosse, "I know that you are an English gentleman and will absolve Henri from blame."
"Of course," agreed Dacres. "I promise on my honour that if anything goes wrong—I don't think it will, by the by—I will make out that I deliberately deceived your son. He, of course, must be told to repudiate me, should the Valderians spot me."
"You are a good impersonator, Monsieur Dacres?"
"Fairly," replied Dacres modestly. "I bluffed a flagship's officers once, only——"