King Louis-Philippe,
the Prince de Joinville, the Minister of War, and other high personages
of the time--incidents which all tend to establish the falsity of the
accusations by which Judet, in his venomous spite and malignity, hoped to
cast opprobrium on the parentage of my dear master and friend.

But I must return to Maitre Labori's envoy. When I had seen the contents
of his envelope I heartily apologised to him for the suspicions which I
had cast upon his good faith. At this he smiled more maliciously and
triumphantly than ever, and then candidly remarked: 'Well, if you have
tested me, I have tested you, and I shall be able to tell all our friends
in Paris that M. Zola is in safe hands.'

According to our previous agreement we re-sealed the envelope, writing
across it that it had been opened in the presence of Wareham and myself.
And afterwards our reconciliation also was 'sealed' over a friendly
glass. Nevertheless the envoy never saw M. Zola. M. Desmoulin luckily
turned up on the morrow, and, armed with a fresh note from the master,
persuaded our little French friend to hand him the documents.

We left the Salisbury Hotel, Wareham and I, well pleased to find that our
suspicions had been unfounded. Nevertheless the whole conversation of the
last hour had left its mark on us; and, for my part, I was in much the
same state of mind as in the old days of the siege of Paris, when the spy
mania led to so many amusing incidents. Thus, the circumstance of finding
two persons at the corner of Salisbury Square as we left it--two persons
who were speaking in French and who eyed us very suspiciously--revived my
alarm. They even followed us along Fleet Street towards the Ludgate
Circus, and though we dodged them through the cavernous Ludgate Hill
Railway Station, across sundry courts and past the stores of Messrs.
Spiers and Pond, we again found them waiting for us on our return towards
the embankment, determined, so it seemed, to convoy us home. We hastened
our steps and they hastened theirs. We loitered, they loitered also. At
last Wareham made me dive into a side street and thence into a maze of
courts, and though the others seemed bent on following us, we at last
managed to give them the slip.

I never saw these men again, but I have retained a strong suspicion that
no mere question of coincidence could explain that seeming pursuit. I
take it that the individuals had come over to England on the track of the
little French