Who the second man might be Hilliard could not conjecture.
He arrived at the hotel, and found Narramore in company with a man of about the same age, his name Birching, to Hilliard a stranger.

They had reached Paris this morning, and would remain only for a day or two, as their purpose was towards the Alps.
"I couldn't stand this heat," remarked Narramore, who, in the very lightest of tourist garbs, sprawled upon a divan, and drank something iced out of a tall tumbler.

"We shouldn't have stopped here at all if it hadn't been for you.

The idea is that you should go on with us." "Can't--impossible----" "Why, what are you doing here--besides roasting ?" "Eating and drinking just what suits my digestion." "You look pretty fit--a jolly sight better than when we met last.

All the same, you will go on with us.