s not me, it's all the world. It was in the
papers, you must have read them, the most awful story, such--such
depravity there never was--such treachery, such gross misconduct."

He caught me by the arm so violently and looked so fierce that for a
moment I was quite alarmed.

"Drop it, I tell you. Leave the lady alone, both by word and deed.
You'll never find her again, I've seen to that. She has escaped you."

"Aha! You think so? Don't be too cocksure. We understand our
business better than that, we don't go into it single-handed. You've
collared me for a bit, but I'm not the only one in the show."

"The only one that counts," he said sneering.

"Am I?" I answered in the same tone. "What if I had a pal waiting for
me at Basle, who received my instructions there--just when you thought
you had me safe--and has now taken up the running?"

He was perfectly staggered at this, I could see plainly. I thought at
first he would have struck me, he was so much upset.

"You infernal villain," he shouted, "I believe the whole thing is a
confounded lie! Explain."

"I owe you no explanations," I replied stiffly, "my duty is to my
employers. I only account to them for my conduct. I am a confidential
agent."

He seemed impressed by this, for when he spoke again it was more
quietly. But he looked me very straight in the eyes. I felt that he
was still likely to give trouble.

"Well, I suppose I cannot expect you to tell me things. You must go
your own way and I shall go mine."

"I should advise you to leave it, Colonel," I said, civilly enough.
"I'm always anxious to conciliate and avoid unpleasantness. Give up
the whole business; you will only burn your fingers."

"Ah! How so?"

"The law is altogether against you. It is a nasty job; better not be
mixed up in it. Have you any idea what that woman--that lady," I
corrected myself, for his eyes flashed, "has done?"

"Nothing really wrong," he was warming up into a new burst of passion.

"Tell that to the Courts and to the Judge when you are prosecuted for
contempt and charged as an accessory after the fact. How will you like
that? It will take the starch out of you."

"Rot! The law can't do us much harm. The only person who might make it
disagreeable is Lord Blackadder, and I snap my fingers at him."

"The Earl of Blackadder? Are you mad? He is a great personage, a rich
and powerful nobleman. You cannot afford to fight him; he will be too
strong for you. He has been made