my only friend, adieu! adieu!" 

She pressed a kiss upon his brow, and rushed from the room, followed by Nina Gypsy. 

Prosper was alone. He seemed to be awaking from a troubled dream. He tried to think over what had just happened, and asked himself if he were losing his mind, or whether he had really spoken to Madeleine and seen Gypsy? 

He was obliged to attribute all this to the mysterious power of the strange man whom he had seen for the first time that very morning. 

How did he gain this wonderful power of controlling events to suit his own purposes? 

He seemed to have anticipated everything, to know everything. He was acquainted with Cavaillon, he knew all Madeleine's movements; he had made even Gypsy become humble and submissive. 

Thinking all this, Prosper had reached such a degree of exasperation, that when M. Verduret entered the little parlor, he strode toward him white with rage, and in a harsh, threatening voice, said to him: 

"Who are you?" 

The stout man did not show any surprise at this burst of anger, but quietly answered: 

"A friend of your father's; did you not know it?" 

"That is no answer, monsieur; I have been surprised into being influenced by a stranger, and now--" 

"Do you want my biography, what I have been, what I am, and what I may be? What difference does it make to you? I told you that I would save you; the main point is that I am saving you." 

"Still I have the right to ask by what means you are saving me." 

"What good will it do you to know what my plans are?" 

"In order to decide whether I will accept or reject them?" 

"But suppose I guarantee success?" 

"That is not sufficient, monsieur. I do not choose to be any longer deprived of my own free will, to be exposed without warning to trials like those I have undergone today. A man of my age must know what he is doing." 

"A man of your age, Prosper, when he is blind, takes a guide, and does not undertake to point out the way to his leader." 

 Prev. P 100/436 next