to modify them. He felt, probably, that if he attacked me I might retaliate unpleasantly. I ought to be able to hold my own with h

lthough I had the excuse that I usually found them well received, thanks to my af

es on her, and I had been to some extent driven to show my hand before I had made my ground good. So the first thing I did on regaining my own

. "Is it your own, or did you find it or annex it from n

must know that I am after her; I have to watch her, s

entures

thing she abstracted from-from-Never mind where, and it mu

We can't have any s

hour? I could do it, say somewhere short of Basle, and on reaching there make off.

re than that; and if it is a dog's life, it is better than lying on the straw.

be even with him. He sha'n't beat me, the overbearing, hectoring

to do nothing against me, and I was content to bide my time. Pride goes before a fall. I was not as clever as

ering the course I should adopt under various contingencies. The first and most serious danger was that the lady should succeed in le

r into the night, when the stations were empty and half-dark, and I agreed with Jules to divide the hours till daylight, he taking the first, I the last.

e train slackened speed on approaching a station, I was always on the move and the first to descend and patrol the platform. The Colonel alwa

she came boldly out of her compartment, and I met her face to face for the first

ignificantly, but I did not choose to under

e repeated in a sharp commanding way,

self about that,"

gain to me: "Now see here, my friend, I do not mean to leave you behind. You will co

ne with you

with you for worlds," he shouted with scornful laughter. "You're going to dine under my eye, that's all, even though the

lting me. There was something in his manner that cowe

ed me with contemptuous civility what wine I preferred. He did not talk to the lady, or the merest commonplaces, for I was within earshot. But I made an excellent dinner, I must confess. I had

I fully relied on his doing so, believing him to be my friend. Such friendship

e rattle and jangle of wheels passing over ill-jointed points. After one of the longest periods of unconsciousness I awoke,

out for certain the name "Basilea" (Basle), and saw the clock with the fingers at five-thirty. People were already on the move, work-people, the thrifty, industr

under my eyes, a little party of four, two females, two men accompanying them,

dance not only of the Colonel, that of course, but also of the perfidious Jules l'Echelle. He had sold me! All

or help, but got none, only one or two sluggish porters came up and asked what was amiss, answering stolidly, when they heard, t

direction of the restaurant, and he stood right under m

ible? Who could have done it? I will in

. I believe it was your trickery from the first. I mus

hey will. That was the Colonel's idea; you'd be

I expect. He's not goin

on that, and you'll be able to talk to him. We'll let you out then," he was

s and protests, but was only laughed at for my pains. The railway officials at Basle might have interfered, b

o my intense joy, I caught sight of Ludovic Tiler, who came down the platfo

n't miss her. By the Lord, she is standing at the door! Get away with you, don't let her see you talking with me. She must not know we are acting in common, and I do hope she hasn't noticed. Be off, I tell