"
It was close upon the hour, and the tickets were being examined,
when Mr. Rolles beheld this other fellow-passenger ushered by
several porters into his place; certainly, there was not another
man in the world whom he would not have preferred - for it was old
John Vandeleur, the ex-Dictator.
The sleeping carriages on the Great Northern line were divided into
three compartments - one at each end for travellers, and one in the
centre fitted with the conveniences of a lavatory. A door running
in grooves separated each of the others from the lavatory; but as
there were neither bolts nor locks, the whole suite was practically
common ground.
When Mr. Rolles had studied his position, he perceived himself
without defence. If the Dictator chose to pay him a visit in the
course of the night, he could do no less than receive it; he had no
means of fortification, and lay open to attack as if he had been
lying in the fields. This situation caused him some agony of mind.
He recalled with alarm the boastful statements of his fellow-
traveller across the dining-table, and the professions of
immorality which he had heard him offering to the disgusted Prince.
Some persons, he remembered to have read, are endowed with a
singular quickness of perception for the neighbourhood of precious
metals; through walls and even at considerable distances they are
said to divine the presence of gold.
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