r man.

"The fact is," said Brett, "I heard you had been in London. I guessed
from your appearance that you might be a King's messenger, and it was
just possible that the Captain Gaultier in whom I was interested might
start back to the Continent to-night, so I put two and two together,
don't you see, with the result that they made four, a thing which
doesn't always happen in deduction if in mathematics."

Now, Foreign Office messengers are not chosen for their simplicity or
general want of intelligence. Captain Gaultier eyed his questioner with
some degree of stern suspicion as he said from behind his cigar--

"May I ask who you are?"

"Certainly," replied Brett, producing his card.

After a quick glance at the pasteboard, Gaultier continued--

"I suppose, Mr. Brett, you have some motive in addressing me? What is
it?"

"I am interested in the fate of a man named Talbot," was the
straightforward reply, "and as you told the Under-Secretary that you had
seen Talbot crossing to Paris in company with a lady last Tuesday, I
hoped that perhaps you would not mind discussing the matter with me."

Captain Gaultier was evidently puzzled. Private conversations with
Under-Secretaries of State are not, as a rule, public property, and his
momentary intention to decline further conversation with this
good-looking and fascinating stranger was checked by remembrance of the
fact.

"Really, Mr. Brett," he said, "although I do not question the accuracy
of your statement, you will readily understand that I can hardly discuss
the matter with you under the circumstances."

"Naturally. You would not be holding a responsible position in His
Majesty's service if you were at all likely to do any such thing. But I
propose, in the first instance, to reassure you as to my bona fides, and
I may point out, in the second place, that as I have met you by a
fortunate chance, you can hardly deem it a breach of confidence to
discuss with me the mere accidental appearance on a cross-Channel
steamer of a man known not only to both of us, but to society at large."

Gaultier clearly hesitated, but did not refuse to accept the
Under-Secretary's letter, which Brett handed to him, with the words--

"You know the handwriting, no doubt?"

"That speaks for itself." The King's messenger smiled when he returned
the note. "It is an odd coincidence," he added, "and still more curious
that you should spot me so readily. However, Mr. Brett, we have now
cle