arrion. The Jackal was ushered into the Frenchman's
room in the tattered and somewhat disheveled condition to which his
recent weeks of vagabondage had subjected him.

Jusseret looked his former ally over with scarcely concealed contempt.
Martin sustained the stare and returned it with one coolly audacious.

"I daresay," he began, with something of insolence in his drawl, "it's
hardly necessary to explain why I'm here. I'm looking for something to
do, and in my condition"--he glanced deprecatingly down at his faded
tweeds--"one can't be over nice in selecting one's business associates."

Jusseret was secretly pleased. He divined that before the end came there
might be use for Martin, though no immediate need of him suggested
itself. There were so few men obtainable who would, without question,
undertake and execute intrigue or homicide equally well. It might be
expedient to hold this one in reserve.

"We will not quarrel, Monsieur Martin," he said almost with a purr. "It
is not even necessary to return the compliment. It is so well
understood, why one employs your capable services."

The Englishman flushed. To defend his reputation would be a waste of
time.

"_Madame la Comptesse_ d'Astaride," explained Jusseret, "has gone to
Cairo. She may require your wits as well as her own before the game is
played out. Join her there and take your instructions from her." As he
spoke the map-reviser began counting bills from his well-supplied purse.
Martin looked at them avidly, then objected with a surly frown.

"She sent me away once, and I don't particularly care for the Cairo
idea."

"This time she will not send you away." Jusseret glanced up with a bland
smile. "And it seems I remember a season, not so many years gone, when
you were a rather prominent personage upon the terrace of Shephard's.
You were quite an engaging figure of a man, Monsieur Martin, in flannels
and Panama hat, quite a smart figure!"

The Englishman scowled. "You delight, Monsieur, in touching the raw
spots--However, I daresay matters will go rippingly." He took the bills
and counted them into his own purse. "A chap can't afford to be too
sentimental or thin-skinned." He was thinking of a couple of clubs in
Cairo from which he had been asked to resign. Then he laughed callously
as he added aloud: "You see there's a regiment stationed there, just
now, which I'd rather not meet. I used to belong to its mess--once upon
a time."

Jusseret looked up at