"Indeed I must!" said I, bowing. "But, pray, how is it that you know my
name? You cannot know me personally?"

"Well, that is a question which must remain to be answered later on. At
present it is sufficient to tell you that the telegraph service has been
very full and exact, even in personal description. However, I beg you to
revoke that 'I must,' for indeed I cannot allow you to depart. To the
great favour you have done me, you must add the additional favour of
being my guest for the time of your sojourn in Paris. Promise me to
accept of my hospitality--nay, to regard my house as your own. I shall
be ever so happy! Come, pray, do not hesitate, and give me leave to
introduce you to my wife!"

With that he took my arm, and holding it tight, as if in fear I might
break loose and run off, he led me to the turnstile, where the lady was
standing as quiet and composed as before. He introduced me to her by my
proper name and title, naming even the district which I represented in
the Hungarian Parliament; and all these he pronounced perfectly and
correctly, as I never heard them pronounced by a foreigner before. How
could he know all that? True, I had shown my passport to the frontier
officials; but were these also subject to the Silver King?

The lady bowed politely as her husband said, "This gentleman has saved
our little James from being consumed by the flames at the Rossberg
catastrophe"; and for a moment I felt the slight pressure of a little
gloved hand in mine. It was a very slight pressure, the faintest
possible acknowledgment of a duty, and if I had saved her little pet
monkey or dog, instead of her child, she might well have afforded me a
warmer recognition. Indeed, I had seen women go into raptures on account
of such animals before this, but never before had I seen a mother value