Did our friend, before he
died, impart to you any of the hallucinations under which he suffered?
Are you his legatee?"
"I am not," I answered. "I believe that he meant me to be; but his death,
when it came, was quite sudden. All the secret information I had from him
was his name, and the address of his lawyers."
There was a short silence. I was able to bear with perfect calmness the
keen scrutiny to which my visitor was subjecting me.
"I congratulate you heartily, Mr. Courage," he said at last. "Mr. Guest's
story, if he had told it to you, would have been a mixture of stolen
facts and hallucinations, which might have influenced your life very
forcibly for evil. I wished for his death! I admit it freely. But I
wished it for this reason: because in all Europe yesterday, there did not
breathe a more dangerous man than the man who called himself Leslie
Guest."
"Well, he has gone," I said, "and his life, so far as I know of it, has
been a very sad one. I have already explained to you my wishes in the
matter. I want to forget as speedily as possible the events of the last
eight days.
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