ne
day be replaced by wreaths of victory! That vow was his orison.

His lips moved silently as he made it now, then he turned to his desk.

"Be seated, my dear Lepine," he said. "I have much to discuss with you,
as you may guess. First about _La Liberte_. My Board of Inquiry will be
ready to report by Saturday. It has decided that the explosion was
caused by the spontaneous combustion of the 'B' powder, as was the case
with the _Jena_."

"That theory will do as well as any other," said Lepine, curtly. "But
you and I know that it is not the true one."

Delcasse looked at him quickly.

"Have you any news?" he asked.

"None," answered Lepine, with a frown. "The man we sought has vanished
as completely as though the earth had swallowed him. I have found no
trace of him since he left the office of the Messrs. Cook, with two
passages for America in his pocket. I cannot understand it."

"Have the tickets been returned?"

"They have not been returned, and the Messrs. Cook, making inquiry at my
suggestion, have a report from the steamship company that they have not
been used."

Delcasse turned this over in his mind.

"Perhaps the man and his daughter have met with some accident."

"We should have heard of it," Lepine objected. "I have scrutinised every
report--viewed every body which at all resembled him."

"Then," said Delcasse, "he has been suppressed, as one who knew too
much."

"My own opinion is," said the Prefect, "that he has sought refuge in
Germany, until he can prepare for another demonstration against France."

The Minister moved uneasily in his chair.

"I have thought of that," he said, "and I am doing everything I can to
render such an attempt impossible--but it is a hard task--one can never
be sure. There is another thing I wished to ask you. Where is
Crochard?"

"I do not know, sir. I have not seen him since that morning at Toulon
when we parted outside the Hotel du Nord."

"Then he, too, has disappeared?"

"Yes, sir, completely."

"Has it never occurred to you, Lepine, to connect these two
disappearances?"

"Yes, I did connect them. You will remember in the note he left for me
he stated that he hoped soon to have some good news for us. But when
more than two weeks elapse and we hear nothing, I am forced to conclude
that he, too, has been baffled."

"Yes, it was for me a hope, also--almost my only one," said Delcasse. "I
did not believe that he could fail. And if he has failed, do you k