In this dark corridor, which was empty, John
Wilkins took off the black beard and moustache, hid it in the inside
pocket of his coat, and there went up into the lift a few moments
later to the office floor, I, Eugene Valmont, myself for the first
time in several days.
Even then I did not take a cab to my flat, but passed under the arched
Strand front of the 'Cecil' in a cab, bound for the residence of that
nobleman who had formerly engaged me to see after the safety of the
King.
You will say that this was all very elaborate precaution to take when
a man was not even sure he was followed. To tell you the truth, I do
not know to this day whether anyone watched me or not, nor do I care.
I live in the present: when once the past is done with, it ceases to
exist for me. It is quite possible, nay, entirely probable, that no
one tracked me farther than Liverpool Street Station the night before,
yet it was for lack of such precaution that my assistant Brisson
received the Italian's dagger under his shoulder blade fifteen years
before. The present moment is ever the critical time; the future is
merely for intelligent forethought. It was to prepare for the future
that I was now in a cab on the way to my lord's residence.
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