In the back part of the room at one of the tables was a young man sitting alone.  Something caught my attention.  Perhaps it was his listlessness or the dreamy unconcern with which he watched the dancers; or it may have been the utter forlornness of his expression.  I noted his unusual pallor and his cast of dissipation, also the continual working of his long, lean fingers.  There are certain set fixtures in the night life of any city.  But this was not one.  He was not an habitue.  There was a certain greatness to his loneliness and his isolation.  I wondered.

Just then he looked up.  By a mere coincidence our eyes met.  He smiled, a weak smile and a forlorn one, and it seemed to me rather pitiful.  Then as suddenly his glance wandered to the door behind me.  Perhaps there was something in my expression that caught Hobart’s attention.  He turned about.

“Say, Harry, who is that fellow?  I know that face, I’m certain.”

“Come to think I have seen him myself.  I wonder—­”

The young man looked up again.  The same weary smile.  He nodded.  And again he glanced over my shoulder toward the door.  His face suddenly hardened.

“He knows us at any rate,” I ventured.

Now Hobart was sitting with his face toward the entrance.  He could see anyone coming or going.  Following the young man’s glance he looked over my shoulder.  He suddenly reached over and took me by the forearm.

“Don’t look round,” he warned; “take it easy.  As I said—­on my honour as a fat man.”

The very words foretold.  I could not but risk a glance.  Across the room a man was coming down the aisle—­a tall man, dark, and of a very decided manner.  I had read his description many times; I had seen his likeness drawn by certain sketch artists of the city.  They did not do him justice.  He had a wonderful way and presence—­ you might say, magnetism.  I noticed the furtive wondering glances that were cast, especially by the women.  He was a handsome man beyond denying, about the handsomest I had ever seen.  The same elusiveness.

At first I would have sworn him to be near sixty; the next minute I was just as certain of his youth.  There was something about him that could not be put to paper, be it strength, force or vitality; he was subtle.  His step was prim and distinctive, light as shadow, in one hand he carried the red case that was so often mentioned.  I breathed an exclamation.

Hobart nodded.

“Am I a fat man?  The famous Rhamda!  What say!  Ah, ha!  He has business with our wan friend yonder.  See!”

And it was so.  He took a chair opposite the wan one.  The young man straightened.  His face was even more familiar, but I could not place him.  His lips were set; in their grim line—­determination; whatever his exhaustion there was still a will.  Somehow one had a respect for this weak one; he was not a mere weakling.  Yet I was not so sure that he was not afraid of the Rhamda.  He spoke to the waiter.  The Rhamda began talking.  I noted the poise in his manner; it was not evil, rather was it calm—­and calculating.  He made an indication.  The young man drew back.  He smiled; it was feeble and weary, but for all of that disdainful.  Though one had a pity for his forlornness, there was still an admiration.  The waiter brought glasses.