umed cigarette after cigarette
in most absolute abstraction of mind.

Observed thus, off his guard and at tolerably close range, with his
face clean of soot, he projected a personality so forbidding that
Lanyard marvelled at the guilelessness which must have influenced the
ladies of Chateau de Montalais to accept the man at his own valuation
and give him a place in their household.

The face of fat features was of porcine cast; the forehead low and
slanted sharply back into bristles of black hair, the snout long and
blunt, the lips flabby, the chin retreating, the jowls pendulous; the
eyes a pig's, little, cunning, and predaceous; the complexion sallow
and pimply from unholy living, with an incongruous over-layer of
sunburn. A type to inspire distrust, one would think, at sight; a
nature as repellant as a snake's, and ten times as deadly; in every
line and lineament, in every move and gesture, an Apache of the
Apaches...

As for the baleful reflections with which Dupont was patently concerned
to the exclusion of all considerations of either surveillance or
environment, Lanyard found himself so inquisitive that he had never a
thought but to follow and study the fellow till he surprised his
secret, if possible--at least so long as it might seem safe to do so.

Moreover, nothing could have suited his own purpose better than to
proceed to Paris by way of Lyons.

Nothing hindered the carrying out of his design. Still lost in thought
and inattentive, Dupont entrained for Nimes and at that station changed
to the rapide for Lyons, where duly at four o'clock--with Lanyard still
a discreet shadow--he alighted in the Gare de Perrache.

Here again fortune favoured the voluntary sleuth. The station was well
thronged, a circumstance which enabled him to keep inconspicuously
close to his victim. Furthermore, Dupont was obviously looking for
somebody, and so distracted. Presently a shabby, furtive little rat of
a man nudged his elbow, and Dupont followed him to a corner, where they
confabulated in undertones for many minutes; while Lanyard loitered
just outside their normal range of vision. An unnecessary precaution:
they were unafraid of observation, interested only in their private
concerns. The little man did most of the talking; Dupont seeming
content with a listening role, and gratified by what he heard. He
nodded frequently, and once or twice a grim smile enhanced the ugliness
of his mouth, a smile terrible in its containe