"He has just left." "Very well," I answered.

"You need not mention my inquiry." I gave the boy half-a-crown, and ascended once more to my room.

I was feeling a little more awake, but, incomprehensible though it might seem, I began to have a curious idea concerning the coffee with which Louis had served me.

I even remembered--or thought that I remembered--some curious taste about it.

Yet what object could Louis have in drugging me just as I was on the point of entering into an enterprise on his behalf?
I had a spirit-lamp in my room, and I made myself rapidly a cup of strong tea.