I hesitated; the time had come for me to play my last card. Months before, I had found one night on the streets of London a ring, large, peculiar, strange, with a miter carved upon the soft gold. I had carried it to a jeweler, thinking that I might possibly find the owner. He, being a Catholic, and high in the church councils, had told me that it was a ring of state of some bishop; whose he did not know. I had kept the ring, not finding the owner, and now drew it from my finger, where I had worn it, holding it out to Father Francis. He took it in his fingers, and gazed at it. A look of amazement came over his face, and he looked up, the ring still in his hand. "What is it that thou wouldst ask? I will answer it," he said, bending nearer to me, our heads almost meeting over the table, his flushed face touching mine. "Who is it that is at the bottom of this plan to kidnap and detain me here?" I asked. He would have answered--a moment of hesitation--he opened his mouth, and I bent forward eagerly to catch the answer. Suddenly a look of horror came over his face; he was gazing up, the expression upon his countenance such as I have seen in the eyes of a bird, charmed by the baleful gaze of a snake. The voice of DeNortier at my elbow broke the silence. "My dear sir, I object to thy asking such pointed questions," he said. I arose to my feet, and turned around. DeNortier, sober now, stood near me, a look of almost devilish anger upon his face. Near him stood the grim Herrick, sword in hand. They had entered the room just in time to scatter my plans to the four winds--just at the moment when victory was in sight. "And so thou didst think to wring my plans from my servants," the pirate continued, his face white with rage. "Thou didst try all thy art upon me, and I, unsuspecting, almost fell a victim. Then when thou failed on me, thou attempted to pick from yonder drunken sot the secret of thy detention. This is the work of a gentleman." "And so is that of a jailer," I replied, angered at the gibe. "It is the work of a gentleman to kidnap a man, struck senseless in the street by one of thy ruffians, and detain him here against his will. I count it no sin to fight the devil with fire," and I drew my sword, and stood on guard. He drew his sword also, and for a moment I thought that he would cross with me, but he hesitated--then sheathed it. "Another time, sir," he said. "Believe me, it is only for important reasons, which I cannot explain, that I do not satisfy thee now. Ah!" he said, as I laughed aloud in scorn, "thou dost laugh. It is an old saying and a true one, that 'He laughs best who laughs last.' Have no fears, I will satisfy thee, but the time is not yet ripe. Herrick, take yon drunken sot out of here."