emed at first paralyzed with fear," Ray continued. "He tried to
slip away into the marshes, but I caught him easily, and held him so
that he could not escape. He admitted that he had come to find you with
a message from your father. He denied at first having a letter, but I
searched him until I found it. As you see, it is addressed to you.
Nevertheless I struck matches, opened it, and with some difficulty
managed to read it. All the time this creature was doubling about like
an eel trying to get away. Read the letter."

I drew it from the envelope. It was dated from the Savoy Hotel.

"My DEAR SON,--I do not deserve that you should read beyond these three
words. I have as little right to call you my son as you can have desire
to claim me for your father. I am here, however, purely on an errand of
justice. I have learned that you have been robbed of the sum set aside
to give you a start in life. I am here to endeavor to replace it, for
which purpose I desire that you will grant me a business interview
within the next few days. I beg your reply by Clery, my faithful
companion and servant. I am known here as

"RICHARD DREW FOSTER."

I laid the letter down without remark. Ray had filled his pipe whilst I
had been reading, and was sitting now on the arm of his easy chair,
facing me.

"I understood the letter and its meaning," he continued. "I knew that
the whole neighbourhood was under the observation of the French Secret
Service, and the man who signed himself Richard Drew Foster saw in you
an excellent tool ready to his hand. It is very certain also that the
matter would probably have presented itself to you in a wholly different
light. Accordingly, I placed the letter in my own pocket, and I
released my hold of Clery.

"'You can go back to your master,' I said, 'and tell him that you have
seen me, and that I have his letter. It will be sufficient. And you
can tell him that I shall be in London to-morrow night, and if any such
person as Mr. Drew Foster is staying at the Savoy Hotel, he will know
the inside of a military prison before midnight.'

"The man slunk away. I suppose he realized that with me in the way
their game was up. But afterwards he must have hesitated, and then made
up his mind to attempt what was probably the bravest action of his life.
He followed me, stole up softly behind, and with an old trick which they
teach them on the other side of the Seine, he as nearly as possible
throttled me. However,