Hugo picked up his
lamp, and the two confronted each other. It was a highly delicate
situation.
'Your life is, at any rate, saved,' said Hugo at length.
'You think it was in danger?'
Polycarp's lip curled.
'I think so.'
'Possibly you foresaw the danger I ran,' Polycarp remarked with frigid
irony, 'and came into the flat with the intention of protecting me. May
I ask _how_ you came in?'
'I came in through the drawing-room window,' said Hugo. 'I did not
interfere with your seals, however,' he added.
'You know you are guilty of a criminal offence?'
'I know it.'
'And that I, as executor of the late Francis Tudor, have a duty which I
must perform, no matter how unpleasant both for you and for me?'
'Just so.'
'What are you doing here? Do you think your conduct is worthy of a
gentleman?'
Hugo put the candle down on a table, and dug his hands into his pockets.
'At this moment,' said he, 'I am not a gentleman. I am just a man.
Nothing else. I will appeal to you as another man. I need hardly say
that I have no connection with the opposition firm; I was entirely
ignorant of the presence of Hawke's mission here when I broke into the
flat. I had no notion that Ravengar was pursuing investigations similar
to mine.
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