than a
mild old gentleman; a little eccentric, it may be, as differing
from our English notions in many things. Not a smiling fiend in
patent boots and white cravat, whose secret soul is bent on murder
and rapine; but a shy valetudinarian, whose only firebrand is a
harmless fusee wherewith to light a pipe of fragrant cavendish.

"One permanent guest we have at Bon Repos--a guest who was here
before my arrival, and of whose departure no signs are yet visible.
That is why I call him permanent. His name is Ducie, and he is an
ex-captain in the English army. He is a tall, handsome man of four
or five and forty, and is a thorough gentleman both in manners and
appearance. I like him much, and he has taken quite a fancy to me.
One thing I can see quite plainly; that he and Cleon are quietly at
daggers drawn. Why they should be so I cannot tell, unless it is
that Cleon is jealous of Captain Ducie's influence over Platzoff;
although the difference in social position of the two men ought to
preclude any feeling of that kind. Captain Ducie might be M.
Platzoff's very good friend without infringing in the slightest
degree on the privileges of Cleon as his master's favourite
servant. On one point I am certain: that the mulatto suspects Ducie
of some purpose or covert scheme in making so long a stay at Bon
Repos. He has asked me to act as a sort of spy on the Captain's
movements; to watch his comings and goings, his hours of getting up
and going to bed, and to report to him, Cleon, anything that I may
see in the slightest degree out of the common way.

"It was not without a certain inward qualm that I accepted the
position thrust upon me by Cleon. In accepting it, I flatter myself
that I took a common-sense view of the case. In the _petit_ drama
of real life in which I am now acting an uneventful part, I look
upon myself as a 'general utility' man, bound to enact any and
every character which my manager may think proper to entrust into
my hands. Now, you are my manager, and if it seem to me conducive
to your interests (you being absent) that, in addition to my
present character, I should be a 'cast' for that of spy or amateur
detective, I see no good reason why I should refuse it. So far,
however, all my Fouche-like devices have resulted in nothing. The
Ca