"I am not sure," he said, "that you are not a youth worth considering. I am not sure, I say. There are not six people in England who know my secret, not one who knows it fully; but among those who do there is not one that I would go hand in glove with. But you may be of a different order. You may be, but I have not made up my mind. It may be," and he looked furtively around him again, "it may be that I shall make short work of you, and that your father and mother, if you possess them, may have to mourn the untimely loss of a promising son." I laughed quietly, as though I were amused, but as I did so I had a sense of uneasiness as to what was in his mind. "Oh, you laugh, do you?" he snarled; "but wait a little, young master, and you will see that you have nothing to laugh at. Not that you are not a youth of courage. I do not deny that. Nay, more: for one so young you have some sense. I saw that at the start, else you would not be alive now." Again I laughed; partly because the laugh seemed natural, and partly because I was anxious to impress him with the fact that I had no fear of him. "I tell you the truth," he cried angrily, "and I bid you not to provoke me too far, for I am somewhat short of temper. There is more than one who has dared to brave me here, and have never been heard of again. What, you defy me! Look. If I put this handful of dust," and he took a small packet from a drawer which contained perhaps an ounce of brown-coloured powder, "I say, if I put this handful of dust in that pot, you would in three minutes be asleep--asleep, ay, with a sleep like unto death. And then what would your swords and pistols avail, my young bantam?" "Methinks if I fell asleep so would you," I replied, "so we should sleep together, Father Solomon, and perchance I might awake as soon as you." "But think you that I have not other potions, potions which would resist the action of the fumes which would arise from the pot?" "Possibly; but let me tell you this, Father Solomon: before the sleep mastered me I would give good account of you." I spoke like a man deadly in earnest, as in truth I was, for his words had made me feel that my position might be more serious than I had imagined. My earnestness impressed him too, for he turned somewhat hurriedly to me and said-- "Have I not said that you may be a youth worth considering? But, look you, before we go further into this matter I must know with assurance how we stand. For, let me tell you this: if you play the game which is in your mind it will not be for boys' stakes. Neither will it be a game easy to play." At this I was silent, for I did not wish to use a word which might give him the mastery over me. "And so, young master, before I tell you the things you are longing to know, I must first know who you are, how you came to know of me, how you fell in with Lucy Walters' mother, and how much you know of the matter which brings you here."