“No!” he said. “When my friend has wounded me, I can pardon him without apologies. Tell me, in plain words, do you want my help?”

“Yes, badly enough.”

“And you can ask for it without compromising yourself?”

“I can try, at any rate.”

“Try, then.”

“Well, this is how it stands:⁠—I told you today that I had done my best to find Anne Catherick, and failed.”

“Yes, you did.”

“Fosco! I’m a lost man if I don’t find her.”

“Ha! Is it so serious as that?”