A strange chance had landed me upon the French coast at the very same time as a murderous conspirator, and had afterwards enabled me to see the weapons with which the police contrived to thwart and outwit him and his associates.

When I looked back upon my series of adventures, my wanderings in the salt-marsh, my entrance into the cottage, my discovery of the papers, my capture by the conspirators, the long period of suspense with Toussac's dreadful thumb upon my chin, and finally the moving scenes which I had witnessed--the killing of the hound, the capture of Lesage, and the arrival of the soldiers--I could not wonder that my nerves were overwrought, and that I surprised myself in little convulsive gestures, like those of a frightened child.
The chief thought which now filled my mind was what my relations were with this dangerous man who walked by my side.

His conduct and bearing had filled me with abhorrence.

I had seen the depth of cunning with which he had duped and betrayed his companions, and I had read in his lean smiling face the cold deliberate cruelty of his nature, as he stood, pistol in hand, over the whimpering coward whom he had outwitted.
Yet I could not deny that when, through my own foolish curiosity, I had placed myself in a most hopeless position, it was he who had braved the wrath of the formidable Toussac in order to extricate me.

It was evident also that he might have made his achievement more striking by delivering up two prisoners instead of one to the troopers.