"Right," replied Gautran, as he devoured the food.
"Come, that's candid of you, and spoken like a friend. You did not know, before I informed you, that he lived in the villa yonder?"
"I begin to have hopes of you. And learning it from me, you made up your mind on the spur of the moment--your business being so important--to pay him a friendly visit, despite the strangeness of the hour for a familiar call?"
John Vanbrugh pondered a while. These direct answers, given without hesitation, puzzled him. He had expected to meet with prevarication, and he was receiving, instead, straightforward confidence.
"You are not afraid," he said, "to speak the truth to me, Gautran?"
It was Gautran's turn now to pause, but he soon replied, with a sinister look which John Vanbrugh, in the darkness, could not see:
"Because, after what passes between us this night, I am sure you will not betray me."
"Good," said Vanbrugh; "then it is plain you sought me deliberately, because you think I can in some way serve you."
"Yes, because you can in some way serve me--that is why I am here."
"Then you intend to hide nothing from me?"
A flash of lightning seemed to strike the spot on which he and Gautran were conversing, and he waited for the thunder. It came--long, deep, and threatening.
"There is a terrible storm somewhere," he said.
"It does not matter," rejoined Gautran, with a shudder, "so long as a man is not alone. Don't mind my coming so close. I have walked many a mile to find you. I have not a friend in the world but you."
"But how did you get to him, Gautran? You did not enter by the gates."
"No; I dropped over the wall at the back. Tell me. It is but fair; I answer you honestly enough. What are you watching his house for? A man does not do as you are doing, on such black nights as this, for idle pastime."
"No, indeed, Gautran! I also have business with him. And strangely enough, you, whom I met in the flesh for the first time within these last twenty-four hours, are indirectly concerned in it."
"Am I? Strange enough, as you say. But it will not matter after to-night."
Some hidden meaning in Gautran's tone struck warningly upon John Vanbrugh, and caused him to bestow a clearer observance upon Gautran's movements from this moment.