d plainly the murderous, wild look on the man's face. He
knew what it was to feel murderous. He knew that in a fit of homicide
all considerations of prudence, all care for the future, vanish away,
that the mind is utterly monopolized by the obsession of the one single
desire.

Polycarp disdainfully sneered:

'Four!'

Hugo could withstand the strain no more. He bounded out from his
concealment, and snatched the revolver from the man's hand.

'I forgot you,' growled the man, glancing at him, disgusted.

And so saying he dashed the candle in Polycarp's face and knocked him
violently against Hugo. Both Hugo and Polycarp fell to the ground. The
man made a leap for the door, and in a second had fled, banging it after
him. Hugo and Polycarp rose with stiff movements. Hugo picked up his
lamp, and the two confronted each other. It was a highly delicate
situation.

'Your life is, at any rate, saved,' said Hugo at length.

'You think it was in danger?'

Polycarp's lip curled.

'I think so.'

'Possibly you foresaw the danger I ran,' Polycarp remarked with frigid
irony, 'and came into the flat with the intention of protecting me. May
I ask _how_ you came in?'

'I came in through the drawing-room window,' said Hugo. 'I did not
interfere with your seals, however,' he added.

'You know you are guilty of a criminal offence?'

'I know it.'

'And that I, as executor of the late Francis Tudor, have a duty which I
must perform, no matter how unpleasant both for you and for me?'

'Just so.'

'What are you doing here? Do you think your conduct is worthy of a
gentleman?'

Hugo put the candle down on a table, and dug his hands into his pockets.

'At this moment,' said he, 'I am not a gentleman. I am just a man.
Nothing else. I will appeal to you as another man. I need hardly say
that I have no connection with the opposition firm; I was entirely
ignorant of the presence of Hawke's mission here when I broke into the
flat. I had no notion that Ravengar was pursuing investigations similar
to mine. Mr. Polycarp, Ravengar is, or was, a client of yours--'

'Was.'

'Yes, I heard what you said a few moments ago. Was a client of yours. I
am sure, therefore, that no one knows better than you that Ravengar is
not an honest man. On the other hand, I am equally sure that on the few
occasions when you and I have met I must have impressed you as a
comparatively honest man. Is it not so? I speak without false modesty.
Is it not so?'