He addressed me by name, and his manner,
although it was still respectful enough, was somehow altered.

"Captain Rotherby," he said, "you do not seem to appreciate the
position in which you stand. You are young, and life is hot in your
veins, and yet to-day, as you sit there, your liberty is
forfeit,--perhaps even, if Tapilow should die, your life! Have you
ever heard any stories, I wonder," he added, leaning a little toward
me, "about French prisons?"

"Are you trying to frighten me, Louis?" I asked.

"No!" he answered, "but I want you to realize that you are in a very
serious position."

"I know that," I answered. "Don't think, Louis," I continued, "that
what I did last night was the result of a rash impulse. I had sworn
since a certain day in the autumn of last year that the first time I
came face to face with that man, whether it was in the daytime or the
nighttime, in a friend's house or on the street, I would punish him.
Well, I have kept my word. I had to. I have had my fill of vengeance.
He can go through the rest of his life, so far as I am concerned,
unharmed. But what I did, I was bound to do, and I am ready to face
the consequences, if necessary."

Louis nodded sympathetically.

"Monsieur," said he, "you have but to talk like that to convince the
men whom you will meet in a few moments that you had a real grievance
against Tapilow, and all may yet be well."

"Who are these men?" I asked. "Is it a police court to which you are
taking me?"

"Monsieur," Louis answered, "there are things which I cannot any
longer conceal from you. I myself, believe me, am merely an
outsider. I am, as you know, a hardworking man with a responsible
position and a family to support. But here in Paris I come on to the
fringe of a circle of life with which I have no direct connection, and
yet whose happenings sometimes touch upon the lives of my friends and
intimates. It is a circle of life into which is drawn much that is
splendid, much that is brilliant; but, monsieur, it is life outside
the law, life which does as it thinks fit, which lives its own way,
and recognizes no laws save its own interests."

I nodded.

"Go on, Louis, please," I said, "Tell me, for example, who these men
are whom I am going to meet."

"They are men," Louis answered, "who have great influence in that
world of which I spoke. The law cannot touch them, or if it could it
would not. They wield a power greater than the power which drives the
whe