"Monsieur  Leblun,"  Ambrose  replied,  with  a  little
bow,  "you  are  marvelous.  Those  others  who  rushed
about  so  clumsily,  seeking  for  the  money,  they  did  not
guess  that  a  man  who  lived  in  rags,  a  poor  creature  like
me,  might  know  where  that  money  was.  But  I  do.  and  it


PASSERS-BY  313

is  yours  if  you  abandon  that  visit  to  the  Marquis  of
Ellingham."

Jacques  Leblun  looked  coldly  upon  his  visitor.  His
face  did  not  change  a  muscle,  but  he  came  a  little  forward,
advancing  toward  the  door.  "Ambrose  Drake,"  he  said,
"I  looked  upon  you  as  a  man  of  some  intelligence,  yet  you
come  here  and  you  offer  me  a  bribe  of  stolen  money,
which  I  know  perfectly  well  how  to  become  possessed  of
to-morrow.  There  are  various  little  documents  which  I
am  sending  to  headquarters  to-night.  In  them,  I  may
tell  you  without  any  breach  of  confidence  now,  the  little
matter  of  your  four  million  francs  is  fully  dealt  with."

Ambrose  sighed.  "I  fear,  then,"  he  said,  "that  my
intervention  is  useless."

"Absolutely!"  Leblun  answered,  with  the  first  note  of
actual  impatience  in  his  tone.  "There  is  no  bribe  in  this
world,  nor  any  persuasion,  which  could  save  Lord  El-
lingham."

"Except  this!"  Ambrose  answered,  with  a  sudden
spring.
Jacques  Leblun  lay  quite  still  upon  the  floor,  and  there
was  very  little  to  show  that  he  was  dead.  His  face  was
pallid,  and  his  lips  were  a  little  twisted  in  that  last  effort  to
shout  for  help.  So  truly  had  Ambrose  driven  home  his
knife  that  there  was  scarcely  a  drop  of  blood  to  be  seen


314  PASSERS-BY

upon  his  chest-  Nevertheless,  a  great  career  had  ended.
In  a  sense,  his  words  had  been  prophetic.  The  career  of
which  he  had  been  so  proud  had  terminated  that  day.
