His name was printed “Lieut.-Col.  Basil Annesley,” and his club, the Mars and Neptune, that famous military house in Piccadilly.  Underneath, on all, his destination was written, “Hotel Bellevue, Bellagio, Como.”  There could never be the least difficulty in finding this person if I wanted him, as I thought likely.  He was a blustering, swashbuckling army officer, who could always be brought to account if he misconducted himself, or mixed himself up in shady transactions.

In my great contentment at the discovery I had been wanting in caution, and I lingered too long on forbidden ground.

“You infernal scoundrel,” cried some one from the door, and once more I felt an angry hand on my shoulder.  “How come you here?  Explain yourself.”

“It’s all a mistake,” I began, trying to make the best of it, struggling to get free.  But he still held me in a grip of iron, and it was not until my friend Jules appeared that I got out of the enemy’s clutches.

“Here, I say!” shouted Jules vaguely.  “This won’t do, you know.  I shall have to lodge a complaint against you for brawling.”

“Complaint, by George!” he replied, shaking his fist at me.  “The boot is on the other leg, I take it.  How is it that I find this chap in my compartment?  Foraging about, I believe.”

“Indeed no, Colonel Annesley,” I protested, forgetting myself; and he caught at it directly.

“Oho, so you know my name!  That proves what I say.  You’ve been messing about and overhauling my things.  I won’t stand it.  The man’s a thief.  He will have to be locked up.”

“I’m not the only thief in the car, then,” I cried, for I was now mad with him and his threats.

“I don’t know what you’re driving at, or whom you think to accuse; but I tell you this, my friend, that I shall call in the police at the next station and hand you over.”

I looked at the conductor Jules, appealing for protection.  I saw at once that it would be terrible for me to have any trouble with the police.  They could do me no harm, but I might be delayed, obliged to leave the train, and I should lose sight of the lady, possibly fail altogether.

Jules responded at once.  “Come, come,” he said.  “You’re talking big.  You might own the whole train.  Who might you be?”

“None of your confounded impudence,” shouted the Colonel, as he pointed to one of the luggage labels.  “That’s who I am.  It’s good enough to get you discharged before you’re a much older man.  And now I call upon you to do your duty.  I have caught this man under suspicious circumstances in the very act of rifling my effects.  I insist upon his being taken into custody.”

“There isn’t enough for that,” Jules answered, still my friend, but weakening a little before this masterly army officer, and I felt that I must speak for myself.

“And if you stop me I will have the law of you for false imprisonment, and bring heavy damages.  You will be doing me a great injury in my business.”