eur Barrington, you do not believe me. I am not
surprised. I am sufficiently well known in Paris for you to have
discovered, if you have taken the slightest trouble to inquire, that I
am a red republican, anathema to those who desire milder methods, a
bloodhound where aristocrats are concerned. Still, I did not know who
was in that coach any more than you did."

"If you had known?" asked Barrington.

"I should still have put out my hand to preserve your life."

"Are you quite sure of that?"

"Quite sure."

"You would not have rushed with me into that crowd, thinking of nothing
but the woman in the coach."

"What should make you think so?"

"You forget perhaps that you told me there was a woman, an aristocrat,
for whom you would do much," said Barrington.

"I do not forget, but the will to do much does not mean the will to die
for her."

"No? I think it did," Barrington returned. "I judged by the man's face,
not his words."

Latour smiled, as he closed the books upon the table and put them
together.

"You may be right," he said; "the temptation has not yet come to me. The
other idea that is in your mind is wrong. Mademoiselle St. Clair is not
the woman I am interested in."

"Then we start on level ground," said Barrington, "the ground which was
of your own suggesting--friendship. I do not believe my face is a
telltale one, but would you feel confident that I would do you a service
if I could?"

"Yes."

"Then, Monsieur Latour, what are you going to do to help me to save
Mademoiselle St. Clair?"

"The question is not unexpected," said Latour, after a pause. "I might
easily answer it with the bare statement that I could do nothing. It
would be true enough, for, in one sense, I am powerless; my conscience
would be clear because I should be acting up to my principles. But let
us consider the question for a moment. You are acting for Citizen Lucien
Bruslart."

"He does not know that I am here."

"I quite appreciate that you are not a man to trust any one implicitly
on so short an acquaintance, but you know perfectly well that to rescue
Mademoiselle St. Clair is to save her for Lucien Bruslart."

"And if it be so?"

"The enterprise does not much appeal to me," said Latour. "Let me be
more explicit than I was yesterday. I know Bruslart, not the man only
but the very soul of the man. It is black, monsieur, black as hell.
Mademoiselle had far better look through the little window than trust
such a man.