Read "The Poacher" by Frederick Marryat online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
One evening I was sitting alone in the _salle a manger_ of the _Couronne d'Or_, at Boulogne, when Colonel G -- -, an old acquaintance, came in. After the first greeting, he took a chair, and was soon as busily occupied as I was with a cigar, which was occasionally removed from our lips, as we asked and replied to questions as to what had been our pursuits subsequently to our last rencontre. After about half an hour's chit-chat, he observed, as he lighted a fresh cigar --
"When I was last in this room, I was in company with a very strange personage."