Mr. Hobson was gone.
"Coward! he has easily taken alarm. To desert me at the moment that I
most need advice and help!"
But she did her friend injustice, as a letter that came from him in
the course of a few hours fully proved.
"I heard enough," wrote Mr. Hobson, "to satisfy me that the devil is
unchained and means mischief. I never thought to see R. G. again. We
must watch him now closely, and know all his movements. If he goes to
Paris, as I heard him threaten, he will give himself into our hands. I
shall follow, in spite of the risks I run. One word of warning to the
Prefecture will put the police on his track. Arrest, removal to Mazas,
Cayenne, or by the guillotine--what matter which?--will be his
inevitable fate. The French law is implacable. His _dossier_ (criminal
biography) is in the hands of the authorities, and will be easily
produced. There must be numbers of people still living in Paris who
could identify him at once, in spite of his beard and bronzed face. I
can, if need be, although I would rather not make myself too prominent
just now. Be tranquil; he will not be able to injure us. It is his own
doom that he is preparing."
CHAPTER IX.
IN PARIS.
Years had passed since Hyde--he was Rupert Gascoigne then--had last
been in Paris. The memory of that last sojourn and the horrors of it
still clung to him--his arrest, unjust trial, escape.
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