..
"Morbleu! who talks of arresting Gianapolis?" inquired the voice of a
man who silently had entered the room.
All turned their heads; and there in the doorway stood M. Gaston Max.
"Thank God you've come!" said Dunbar with sincerity. He dropped back
into his chair, a strong man exhausted. "This case is getting beyond
me!"
Denise Ryland was staring at the Frenchman as if fascinated. He, for
his part, having glanced around the room, seemed called upon to give her
some explanation of his presence.
"Madame," he said, bowing in his courtly way, "only because of very
great interests did I dare to conceal my true identity. My name is
Gaston, that is true, but only so far as it goes. My real name is Gaston
Max, and you who live in Paris will perhaps have heard it."
"Gaston Max!" cried Denise Ryland, springing upright as though
galvanized; "you are M. Gaston Max! But you are not the least bit in the
world like"...
"Myself?" said the Frenchman, smiling. "Madame, it is only a man
fortunate enough to possess no enemies who can dare to be like himself."
He bowed to her in an oddly conclusive manner, and turned again to
Inspector Dunbar.
"I am summoned in haste," he said; "tell me quickly of this new
development."
Sowerby snatched his hat from the vacant chair, and politely placed the
chair for M.
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