"Well?" I exclaimed.
This stranger seemed to possess a good deal of knowledge in regard to my antecedents.
"Well, on arrival in London you will go to the Hotel Cecil, and there receive a visitor on the following day, the 2nd of June. You will then be given certain instructions, which must be carried out."
"All this is very mysterious," I remarked. "But I really have no intention of returning to London until next autumn."
"I think you will," was his reply, "because, when you fully consider all the circumstances, you will keep the appointment in London, and learn the truth."
"The truth regarding the death of Reginald Thorne?" I cried. "Cannot I learn it here?"
"No," he replied. "And further, you will never learn it unless you take heed of the plain words I have spoken to-night."
"You tell me that any further friendship between Mr. Keppel and myself is forbidden," I exclaimed, laughing. "Why, the whole thing is really too absurd! I shall, of course, just please myself—as I always do."
"In that case, disaster is inevitable," he observed, with a sigh.
"You tell me that I am threatened with death if I disobey. That is certainly extremely comforting."