"I do not think I have ever had the honor of seeing you," answered the
other, coldly.

"But I recognize you," said Faringhea; "I saw you at Cardoville Castle
the day that a ship and a steamer were wrecked together."

"At Cardoville Castle? It is very possible, sir. I was there when a
shipwreck took place."

"And that day I called you by your name, and you asked me what I wanted.
I replied: 'Nothing now, brother--hereafter, much.' The time has arrived.
I have come to ask for much."

"My dear sir," said Rodin, still impassible, "before we continue this
conversation, which appears hitherto tolerably obscure, I must repeat my
wish to be informed to whom I have the advantage of speaking. You have
introduced yourself here under pretext of a commission from Mynheer
Joshua Van Dael, a respectable merchant of Batavia, and--"

"You know the writing of M. Van Dael?" said Faringhea, interrupting
Rodin.

"I know it perfectly."

"Look!" The half-caste drew from his pocket (he was shabbily dressed in
European clothes) a long dispatch, which he had taken from one Mahal the
Smuggler, after strangling him on the beach near Batavia. These papers he
placed before Rodin's eyes, but without quitting his hold of them.

"It is, indeed, M. Van Dael's writing," said Rodin, and he stretched out