He caught me by the arm so violently and looked so fierce that for a moment I was quite alarmed.

“Drop it, I tell you.  Leave the lady alone, both by word and deed.  You’ll never find her again, I’ve seen to that.  She has escaped you.”

“Aha!  You think so?  Don’t be too cocksure.  We understand our business better than that, we don’t go into it single-handed.  You’ve collared me for a bit, but I’m not the only one in the show.”

“The only one that counts,” he said sneering.

“Am I?” I answered in the same tone.  “What if I had a pal waiting for me at Basle, who received my instructions there—­just when you thought you had me safe—­and has now taken up the running?”

He was perfectly staggered at this, I could see plainly.  I thought at first he would have struck me, he was so much upset.

“You infernal villain,” he shouted, “I believe the whole thing is a confounded lie!  Explain.”

“I owe you no explanations,” I replied stiffly, “my duty is to my employers.  I only account to them for my conduct.  I am a confidential agent.”

He seemed impressed by this, for when he spoke again it was more quietly.  But he looked me very straight in the eyes.  I felt that he was still likely to give trouble.

“Well, I suppose I cannot expect you to tell me things.  You must go your own way and I shall go mine.”

“I should advise you to leave it, Colonel,” I said, civilly enough.  “I’m always anxious to conciliate and avoid unpleasantness.  Give up the whole business; you will only burn your fingers.”

“Ah!  How so?”

“The law is altogether against you.  It is a nasty job; better not be mixed up in it.  Have you any idea what that woman—­that lady,” I corrected myself, for his eyes flashed, “has done?”

“Nothing really wrong,” he was warming up into a new burst of passion.

“Tell that to the Courts and to the Judge when you are prosecuted for contempt and charged as an accessory after the fact.  How will you like that?  It will take the starch out of you.”

“Rot!  The law can’t do us much harm.  The only person who might make it disagreeable is Lord Blackadder, and I snap my fingers at him.”

“The Earl of Blackadder?  Are you mad?  He is a great personage, a rich and powerful nobleman.  You cannot afford to fight him; he will be too strong for you.  He has been made the victim of an abominable outrage, and will spare no effort, no means, no money to recover his own.”

“Lord Blackadder is a cad—­a cruel, cowardly ruffian.  I know all about him and what has happened.  It would give me the greatest pleasure to kick him down the street.  Failing that, I shall do my best to upset and spoil his schemes, and so you know.”

I smiled contemptuously.  “A mere Colonel against an Earl!  What sort of a chance have you?  It’s too absurd.”

“We shall see.  Those laugh longest who laugh last.”