ated with us, monsieur. It is not the first
time we have heard of such a thing."

So it was apparent that Suzor was not a bank official after all!

In the meantime Hambledon was keeping watch at the Hotel du Louvre,
and it was not until afternoon that he rejoined me to report what had
occurred.

It seemed that Suzor had, just before noon, strolled to the Grand
Cafe, where he had met a well-dressed man who was awaiting him. They
took coffee together, and then entering a taxi drove out to the Bois,
where at the Pre Catelan they were joined by a smartly dressed young
woman who was, no doubt, an actress. The three sat talking for a
quarter of an hour, after which the two men left her and returned to a
small restaurant in the boulevard St. Martin, where they took their
_dejeuner_. Afterwards Suzor had returned to his hotel.

At my suggestion my companion had become on friendly terms with the
under concierge, who had promised to inform him if Monsieur Suzor
should chance to be leaving.

It was well that he had arranged this, for when at six o'clock
Hambledon again went to the hotel the man in uniform told him that
Monsieur Suzor was leaving the Quai d'Orsay at eleven o'clock that
night by the through express for Madrid.

I saw that for me to travel to Spain by the same train as the man who
had posed as a banker would be to court exposure. Hence Hambledon
volunteered to travel to the Spanish capital in all secrecy, while I
promised to join him as soon as he sent me his address.

That journey was destined to be an adventurous one indeed, as I will
duly explain to you, but its results proved more startling and
astounding than we ever anticipated.

CHAPTER THE FOURTEENTH

THE GATE OF THE SUN

The spring morning was grey and rather threatening as I left the Hotel
de la Paix in Madrid and walked from the Puerta del Sol past the smart
shops in the Carrera de San Jeronimo and across the broad handsome
Plaza de Canovas, in order to meet Hambledon at a point which he had
indicated in the Retiro Park.

Late on the previous night I had arrived in the Spanish capital, and
while Hambledon was at the Palace Hotel in the Plaza de Canovas I had
gone to the Paix in the Puerta del Sol. I had been in Madrid only once
before in my life, and as I walked through the gay thoroughfares I
recalled that proud saying of the Madrilenos: "De Madrid al cielo y en
el cielo un ventanillo para ver a Madrid" (From Madrid to Heaven, and
i