When Dr. Peterssen entered M. Felix's sitting-room he sank into a chair, and gazed around upon the luxurious furnishings with an air of scornful approval. A cigar-case was on the table, and without invitation the unwelcome visitor helped himself to a cigar, which he lighted and smoked in silence for two or three minutes. Meanwhile M. Felix looked on and said nothing.

"You are comfortably lodged here," said Dr. Peterssen, at length, "and your cigars are very fine; but you were ever a man of taste in the matter of your own enjoyments; the best were always good enough for you. By the by, the friends you were entertaining? Where are they?" M. Felix smiled sourly, and Dr. Peterssen laughed aloud. The next moment, however, he became grave. "Let us proceed to business."

"With all my heart," said M. Felix. "I shall be rid of you all the sooner."

"You will never be rid of me, dear comrade. I am curious to learn for what reason Mr. Leonard Paget has transformed himself into M. Felix."

"You are curious to learn nothing of the sort; you are acquainted with the reason. It was to escape from your rapacity, which in another year or two would have beggared me."

"A good reason, from a purely selfish point of view, but you lost sight of a most important element. You and I are one, sweet boy; our fortunes are one; if I swim, you swim; if I sink, you sink. I am not at all sure, as to the latter, whether I could not save myself and bring you to destruction at the same time. Why did you cut and run from the tender-hearted individual upon whom your safety depends? I asked you now and then for a trifle of money to help me through difficulties; you always objected, I always insisted. I put the matter before you plainly. If I did not discharge certain obligations----"

"Brought about by your mad gambling," interrupted M. Felix.

"Granted, dear boy, but men with minds are never free from weaknesses of one kind or other, and I freely admit I like a little flutter occasionally."

"You would have bled me," said M. Felix, with a dark frown, "till I had lost every shilling of my fortune."

"Of our fortune, comrade, of our fortune. It is in my power to strip you of it at any moment, therefore, in common equity, the money is as much mine as yours."

"We made a bargain, and I adhered to it--have adhered to it up to this day."

"Quite correct. Every quarter-day I find paid into my bank the sum of one hundred and fifty pounds. Woe to you if there had been a single omission. I might have advertised for you, in terms which would have drawn unpleasant notice upon you; I would have left no stone unturned to unearth you. I think it is five years ago since we last met. It was not an amicable meeting; angry words passed between us. You gave me the money I asked for and insisted upon having, but you declined to accept the view I presented for your consideration, that you were but the treasurer of a common fund. We parted, not the best of friends, and the next thing I heard of you was conveyed in a letter you wrote to me from Brindisi--it was actually posted from there--informing me that you had left England never to return, and that the six hundred a year would be paid regularly into my bankers in quarterly instalments, as usual. My dear friend, that letter naturally did not please me, and I did not propose to submit patiently to the desertion. I was working for you, for your ease, for your safety; I had an establishment to keep up. My little private asylum in the country, with its patients and keepers, entails upon me a great expense. I am getting tired of it; it chains me down; I have to be very watchful and careful; I have to wheedle and bribe, and, besides, I have to live. I knew that you lied when you wrote that you had left England never to return; I knew that it was the only country in the world you cared to live in, and I set to work to discover your hiding place. For five years I have been hunting for you; I have been in London a dozen times; I have searched everywhere. Oh, the money you have cost me, every shilling of which you shall refund. You shall; I have kept an account, and you shall pay me not only what I am out of pocket, but so much a day for my personal labor. But you are extraordinarily cunning, and it is only now I have succeeded in tracking you down. And being tracked, I mean to keep my hold upon you; I mean to have my due; I mean to share equally with you. It was by the merest chance that I obtained a clue, and I followed it up, until, behold, in the person of M. Felix, who passes as a foreigner, I discover my dearest friend, Mr. Leonard Paget, a partner with me in a conspiracy which, if it were made public, would insure, for you, certainly, for me probably, penal servitude for life. Now, what is it you propose to do?"

"What do you want?" demanded M. Felix.

"I have already stated--an equal share of the fortune for which we both conspired."

"What if I told you that it was pretty well squandered, and there was but little left?"

"I should not believe you."

"It is a fact."

"It is a lie."

"Do you think I should be living in such seclusion as this if it were not the truth?"

"I think what I please. What more can a man desire than what I see around me? You must be enjoying your days, Leonard."

"I repeat," said M. Felix, "that I have lost the greater part of the money. You can prove it for yourself if you like. I have speculated unluckily; I have lost large sums at Monaco. You can't get blood out of stone."

"If you are the stone I will have either blood or money. Understand me; I am quite resolved. You see, dear friend, you have unfortunately roused a feeling of animosity in me by your bad treatment. I was to have all the kicks, you all the ha'pence. Unfair, monstrously unfair. Whose was the immediate risk in the conspiracy? Mine. Over whose head has hung, at any chance moment, the peril of discovery? Over mine. Who has done all the work? I. And you, living your life of ease and pleasure, laughed in your sleeve all the time, and thought what an easy tool it was who was doing all the dirty work for you, while you posed as a gentleman of immaculate virtue. Leonard, do not mistake me you will have to do as I command; I am not your slave; you are mine. I hold you in the hollow of my hand. You have escaped me once, you shall not escape me again."

"You speak bravely," said M. Felix, with an attempt at bravado. "What would you do if I defy you?"

"What would I do if you defy me?" repeated Dr. Peterssen, musingly. "I would have my revenge, most certainly. I would bring destruction upon you, most certainly. I would make a felon of you, most certainly."

"You forget that you would be implicated in these unpleasant consequences."

"I forget nothing; but you are mistaken, friend of my soul. There are roads open to me which are closed to you. I could turn Queen's evidence. I could do better than ............