d.

No doubt it would have interested both him and M. Delcasse to know how
nearly parallel the channels of their thoughts had run!

CHAPTER V

AT THE CAFE DES VOYAGEURS

M. Delcasse was scarcely out of bed, next morning, when Lepine's card
was brought in to him. He smiled as he read the line scrawled across it:
"My report awaits Monsieur."

"Show M. Lepine into the breakfast-room," said the Minister, "and inform
him that I shall be down at once. Also inquire if he has breakfasted. If
not, see that he is served."

He hastened on with his toilet, and, five minutes later, joined Lepine,
whom he found at his favourite amusement of standing at a window and
gazing into the street--an amusement which occupied every idle moment,
sometimes with the most astonishing results. Chance plays a larger part
in life than most people are willing to admit; Lepine believed in it;
went half-way to meet it--and, more than once, had seen drifting past
him along the pavement the face for which his best men had been
searching vainly.

Lepine, it appeared, had already breakfasted, and, while the Minister
ate, told of the interrogation at the Hotel du Nord. He had sent one of
his men to Nice, with the receipts for the bags, and if, as seemed
probable, they were still uncalled for, they would be examined at once.

"Though, even if they are still there," Lepine added, "we shall probably
discover nothing of moment. One does not place anything of value in a
bag and then abandon it. But I have another clue of the first
importance," and he produced the hundred-franc note. "Here is the note
given to Brisson by one of the strangers. You perceive that it is quite
new. I suggest that you send the number of this note to the Bank of
France, ascertain when and to whom it was issued, and if any other notes
of the series were issued at the same time."

"I will do so," said M. Delcasse, and made a note of the number. "I
agree with you that this is most important."

"One thing more," went on Lepine, replacing the note in his pocket-book
and extracting a slip of paper; "a small thing, but of significance. I
have here the police blanks which the two men filled out upon arriving
at the Hotel du Nord. Their names, you see, are given as George Arnold
and William Smith, their home as New York City, United States of
America. If you will notice the 'S' of the word 'Smith,' you will see
that it is made in the German manner."

"That is true; but it ma