I am fairly used to surprises, but there was a magnificence about this unexpected offer that for a moment took away my breath. I leaned back and surveyed my double with genuine admiration. "You certainly do business on a large scale, Mr. Northcote," I said. "Do you pay in cash?" For an answer, he thrust his hand into an inside pocket and pulled out a leather case. This he opened, extracting four bank-notes, which he laid on the table. "Here are two thousand pounds," he said quietly. "If you accept, I will give you a cheque for the remainder." I looked at the notes with that respectful interest that one keeps for distinguished strangers. There was no doubt that they were genuine. Then, with some deliberation, I also lit a cigarette. "It must be a very unpleasant job," I said regretfully. For the first time since I had met him, my companion laughed. It was a grim, mirthless sort of laugh, however, not in the least suggestive of encouragement. "Yes," he said dryly: "if I threw it open to competition, I fancy that the entries would be small." Then he paused. "Before I go any further," he added, "will you give me your word of honour to keep what I am going to say entirely private, whether you decline or accept?" "Certainly," I said, without hesitation. "Very well." Again he stopped for a moment apparently hesitating over a choice of words. "Within a few days," he said slowly, "unless I take certain steps, there is every likelihood of my being a dead man." I thought of the little incident on the Embankment, and I felt that he was speaking the truth. "To put it plainly," he said, "I must disappear. If I stay in London under my own name I shall certainly be killed. It may be a matter of days or weeks, or even months--that will depend on myself; but the end is sure and quite unavoidable." I poured myself out a glass of brandy and held it up to the light. "The situation," I observed, "has at least the merit of being a simple one." The same cold smile flickered across his lips. "It is not quite as simple as it seems. The gentlemen who are so anxious to accelerate my passage to heaven are doing me the honour of paying me a very close and intelligent attention. I might possibly be able to avoid them,--to-night, for instance, I believe I have done so,--but whether I could get out of the country alive is a very open question." "Ah!" I muttered. Light was beginning to dawn on me. He nodded, as though answering an unspoken question. "Yes," he said; "the thought struck me the moment I caught sight of you under the lamp. If I were a believer in the supernatural, I should say you had been sent by the Devil. I can't think of any other power that would be particularly anxious to assist me." "Well," I said lightly, "if the Devil sent me, I am at least indebted to him for a good supper. What is it you want me to do?"