“ You here?” he said. “Well, I had an idea that I should meet you. Do not trouble to tell me anything, for I know all⁠—yes, all. In fact, your whole life during the past twenty months lies within my knowledge.”

“How closely you watch the doings of your old friends!” I replied. “That does you infinite credit. But stop a moment. You have reminded me of something. Was it you who bailed me out of Roulettenberg prison when I was lying there for a debt of two hundred gülden? Someone did so.”

“Oh dear no!⁠—though I knew all the time that you were lying there.”

“Perhaps you could tell me who did bail me out?”

“No; I am afraid I could not.”