granted, and which led to a
rather curious experience. I had declined to see my correspondent alone,
and had given him the address of Wareham, who had been present at the
interview. And at first the stranger, a tall and energetic looking man,
with sunburnt face and heavy moustaches, had refused to disclose his
business in Wareham's presence. If at last he did so, it was solely
because I told him that before coming to any decision in the matters
which he might have to submit to me I should certainly lay them before my
solicitor. So the result would be the same, whether he spoke out before
Wareham or not. And Wareham very properly added that a solicitor was, in
a measure, a confessor bound to observe professional secrecy.

At last the man told us his business, and it proved to be a scheme for
rescuing Dreyfus from Devil's Island and carrying him to an American
port. Neither Wareham nor myself was able to take the matter seriously,
but our visitor spoke with great earnestness, as though he already saw
the suggested feat accomplished. He had a ship at his disposal, and a
crew also. He gave particulars about both. If I remember rightly, the
ship lay at Bristol. He knew Cayenne and Devil's Island, and Royal
Island, and so forth. He was convinced of the practicability of the
venture, he had weighed all the _pros_ and _cons_, and it rested with
Dreyfus's friends and relatives to decide whether or no he (the prisoner)
should be a free man within another six weeks.

Wareham laughed. He was thinking of 'Captain Kettle,' and said so. But
the would-be rescuer protested that all this was no romancing. Oh! he was
not a philanthropist, he should expect to be well paid for his services;
but the Dreyfus family was rich, and M. Zola, too, was a man of means. So
surely they would not begrudge the necessary funds to release the unhappy
prisoner from bondage.

But I replied that though the Dreyfus family and M. Zola also were
anxious to see Dreyfus free, they were yet more anxious to prove his
innocence. Personally I knew nothing of the Dreyfus family, and could
give no letter of introduction to any member of it, such as I was asked
for. And, as regards M. Zola, I was sufficiently acquainted with his
character to say that he would never join in any such enterprise. He
intended to pursue his campaign by legal means alone, and it was useless
to refer the matter to him.

Then the interview ended rather abruptly. A French client of Wareham's