morning I received a telegram instructing me to report in person to M.
Delcasse, and I hastened to do so."

"You have done well, sir," said the Minister, "and I thank you. We will
ask you to exchange these notes for two others, and furthermore to say
nothing to any one of this discovery or of having seen me."

The exchange was made, the banker departed, and Lepine, with the notes
in his pocket-book, hastened away to the Gare Centrale. Arrived there,
he asked for the chief, introduced himself, and stated his business.

"I have here two notes," he said, "which were deposited by your cashier
last Monday afternoon. It is most important that I find out from whom
this money was received, and to what point tickets were purchased. The
purchase was made, no doubt, some time during Monday."

"The money might have been received Sunday," the chef-du-gare pointed
out. "Since the bank is closed Sunday, we can make no deposit on that
day."

"I have reason to believe it was not received until Monday," said
Lepine. "May I interrogate the cashiers, beginning with the one who was
on duty at daybreak Monday?"

"There are two men on duty at all hours," explained the chief; "and each
trick is eight hours in length. The first begins at six o'clock in the
morning. At what hour was daybreak on Monday?"

"At five o'clock and forty-nine minutes."

"The clerks who were in the bureau at that hour are not here now, but I
can have them called."

"Let us interrogate the ones who are here," suggested Lepine. "Perhaps
it will not be necessary to disturb the others."

The chief pressed a button and summoned the ticket-sellers, one after
the other. The first had no recollection of having received the notes,
but with his companion Lepine was more successful.

"Yes, yes, I remember them perfectly," he said, when they were shown to
him. "My attention was called to them because they were both quite new.
I looked at them closely to make certain that they were genuine, and
noticed that they were numbered consecutively. Another detail which
caused them to remain in my memory was the striking appearance of the
person who gave them to me."

Lepine's heart was throbbing with triumph.

"Describe this man," he said.

"Ah, sir," said the clerk, "that is just it. It was not a man, but a
girl--a girl of eighteen or twenty. That is what drew my attention. It
is not usual to have a girl like that ask for two tickets, second-class,
to Paris."

"A girl!"