CHAPTER VIII
HAWK AND RAVEN
Let me tell you, my friend, that as I walked away from Ivan's house I was not singing pæans of praise. I had got more than twice the value of what I went after, it is true, but I had also got something else, and that was the undying enmity of the most dangerous criminal in Europe.
As long as Chu-Chu was alive my own life was worth about two sous. From the moment that I left Ivan's house Chu-Chu's immediate and pressing business would be to settle his account with me. I had not the slightest doubt that so far as his private affairs were concerned everything would have to wait while he gave himself to a sincere and painstaking stalk of myself. I had not only deprived him of a fortune but I had disgraced and ruined him with Ivan. In fact, I was not at all sure but that he might kill Ivan with his naked hands before leaving the house, merely because the Pole had witnessed his humiliation. Thinking it over, I was sorry that I had not left Ivan his pistol, as in that case he might have disposed of Chu-Chu on his own account. You see, Chu-Chu's quarrel with an outsider was a menace to the whole mob, as many men in my position would have gone straight to the prefect of police and furnished information which might have led to the capture of Monsieur de Maxeville.
Why didn't I do that very thing? It is a little
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