Here was a nice position for a man to find himself in.  Instead of solving the difficulty we had only increased it.  I wondered what Hayle would say when he heard the news, and what his next step would be.  That he would endeavour to bolt again, I felt quite certain.  It was a point in my favour, however, that he would not know until the evening what Kitwater’s decision was, so I felt I had still some time to arrange my plan of action.  Of one thing I was quite determined, and that was that he should be watched day and night from that minute, but not by Mr. Dickson.  That worthy I bade return to England, and his rage on discovering that Mademoiselle Beaumarais’s maid had tricked him, would have been amusing to witness, had the principal event in which I was most concerned not been so grave.  The expressions he used about her were certainly far from being complimentary.

Feeling that I must have other assistance, I set off for my friend Leglosse’s residence.  I had the good fortune to meet him by the concierge’s lodge, and we ascended the stairs to his rooms together.

“I have come to ask you to do me a favour,” I said, when we were seated in his sitting-room.

“A thousand favours if you wish, cher ami,” the old fellow replied.  “Tell me how I can have the pleasure of serving you.”

“I want you to lend me one of your men for a few days,” I said.  “I have to send my own man back to England, and I am afraid the gentleman we were discussing last night may give me the slip in the meantime if I’m not careful.”

The better to enable him to appreciate the position, I furnished him with a brief summary of the case upon which I was engaged.

“And so you are to dine with your prisoner to-night?” he remarked, with one of his quiet chuckles.  “That is droll—­very droll.  It is very good for you that it is at such a place, or I should have my doubts as to the rascal’s intentions.  But you are well able to take care of yourself, my friend; that I know.”

“And the man?”

“You shall have him.  You shall have half-a-dozen if you like.  I am only too pleased to be able to help in such a good work.  You shall have Pierre Lepallard, my right-hand.  I cannot give you a better.  Nothing escapes Pierre, and he is discreet, oh, yes, my friend, he is discreet.  He will not obtrude himself, but he will know all that your friend does, to whom he speaks, what he said to him, and sometimes even what he intends doing before he does it.”

“In that case he is just the man for me,” I replied.  “I am exceedingly obliged to you for your considerate courtesy.  Some day I may be able to repay it.”

Within half-an-hour the estimable Lepallard had been made acquainted with his duties, and within an hour a ragged tatterdemalion of a man was selling matches on the opposite side of the road to that on which Hayle’s apartments were situated.

I reached the restaurant at which we were to dine that evening punctual to the moment, only to find that Hayle had not yet arrived.  For a minute I was tempted to wonder whether he had given me the slip again, but while the thought was passing through my mind a cab drove up, and the gentleman himself alighted.