"Very likely. It is a very odd affair. I wonder who that fellow is whom he described. He did not give a hint as to the circumstances which excited his suspicions." "It _is_ strange. But that man, Paul Davies, kept his eye upon Lebas from the motive I mentioned, and this circumstance may have led to his seeing more of the matter than, with the reward in his mind, he cares to make known at present. I think I did right in meeting him face to face." "Quite right, Sir." "It has been always a rule with me to go straight at everything. I think the best diplomacy is directness, and that the truest caution lies in courage." "Precisely my opinion, Mr. Longcluse," said Uncle David, looking on him with eyes of approbation. He was near adding something hearty in the spirit of our ancestors' saying, "I hope you and I, Sir, may be better acquainted;" but something in the look and peculiar face of this unknown Mr. Longcluse chilled him, and he only said-- "As you say, Mr. Longcluse, courage is safety, and honesty the best policy. Good-night, Sir." "A thousand thanks, Mr. Arden. Might I ask one more favour, that you will endorse on each of these threatening letters a memorandum of the facts of this strange interview?--I mean a sentence or two, which may at any time confound this fellow, should he turn out to be a villain." "Certainly," said Mr. Arden thoughtfully, and he sat down again, and wrote a few lines on the back of each, which, having signed, he handed them to Mr. Longcluse, with the question, "Will that answer?" "Perfectly, thank you very much; it is indeed impossible for me to thank you as I ought and wish to," said Mr. Longcluse with effusion, extending his hand at the same time; but Mr. Arden took it without much warmth, and said, in comparison a little drily-- "No need to thank me, Mr. Longcluse; as you said at first, there are motives quite sufficient, of a kind for which you can owe me, personally, no thanks whatever, to induce the very slight trouble of coming here." "Well, Mr. Arden, I _am_ very _much_ obliged to you, notwithstanding;" and so he gratefully saw him to the door, and smiled and bowed him off, and stood for a moment as his carriage whirled down the short street. "He does not like me--nor I, perhaps, him. Ha! ha! ha!" he laughed, very softly and reservedly, looking down on the flags. "What an odd thing it is! Those instincts and antipathies, they are very odd." All this, except the faint laughter, was in thought. Mr. Longcluse stepped back. He was negatively happy--he was rid of an anxiety. He was positively happy--he had been better received by Miss Arden, this evening, than he had ever been before. So he went to his bed with a light heart, and a head full of dreams.