"Well, go into the house with Jacques, and while he is attending to you I will write a reply telegram which you can take to the office for me."
While the man was quenching his thirst Dollon wrote his reply:
"Will leave Verrières to-morrow evening by 7.20 train, arriving Paris 5 a.m. Wire appointment at your office to me at Hôtel Francs-Bourgeois, 152 rue du Bac."
He read the message over, signed it "Dollon" and considered.
"I wonder what they can want me for? Oh, if only they have found out something about the Langrune affair, how glad I shall be!"
XXIV. Under Lock and Key
After the preliminary examination as to his identity and so on, Gurn had been transferred to the Santé prison. At first the prisoner seemed to have terrible difficulty in accustoming himself to the rigours of confinement; he suffered from alternate paroxysms of rage and despair, but by sheer strength of character he fought these down. As a prisoner on remand he was entitled to the privilege of a separate cell, also during the first forty-eight hours he had been able to have his meals sent in from outside. Since then, however, his money had given out, and he was obliged to content himself with the ordinary prison dietary. But Gurn was not fastidious; this man whom Lady Beltham had singled out, or accepted, as her lover had often given proofs of an education and an intelligence above the average, yet now he appeared quite at ease in the atmosphere of a prison.