icult to
answer. Still, the profound examination to which Beautrelet applied
himself ended by pointing to one essential characteristic which was
common to them all. Each one of them, without exception, had happened
within the boundaries of the old kingdom of Neustria, which correspond
very nearly with those of our present-day Normandy. All the heroes of
the fantastic adventure are Norman, or become Norman, or play their
part in the Norman country.

What a fascinating procession through the ages! What a rousing
spectacle was that of all those barons, dukes and kings, starting from
such widely opposite points to meet in this particular corner of the
world! Beautrelet turned the pages of history at haphazard: it was
Rolf, or Rou, or Rollo, first Duke of Normandy, who was master of the
secret of the Needle, according to the treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte!

It was William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy and King of England,
whose bannerstaff was pierced like a needle!

It was at Rouen that the English burnt Joan of Arc, mistress of the
secret!

And right at the beginning of the adventure, who is that chief of the
Caleti who pays his ransom to Caesar with the secret of the Needle but
the chief of the men of the Caux country, which lies in the very heart
of Normandy?

The supposition becomes more definite. The field narrows. Rouen, the
banks of the Seine, the Caux country: it really seems as though all
roads lead in that direction. Two kings of France are mentioned more
particularly, after the secret is lost by the Dukes of Normandy and
their heirs, the kings of England, and becomes the royal secret of
France; and these two are King Henry IV., who laid siege to Rouen and
won the battle of Arques, near Dieppe, and Francis I., who founded the
Havre and uttered that suggestive phrase:

"The kings of France carry secrets that often decide the fate of towns!"

Rouen, Dieppe, the Havre: the three angles of the triangle, the three
large towns that occupy the three points. In the centre, the Caux
country.

The seventeenth century arrives. Louis XIV. burns the book in which a
person unknown reveals the truth. Captain de Larbeyrie masters a copy,
profits by the secret thus obtained, steals a certain number of jewels
and dies by the hand of highway murderers. Now at which spot is the
ambush laid? At Gaillon! At Gaillon, a little town on the road leading
from Havre, Rouen or Dieppe to Paris!

A year later, Louis XIV. buys a do