the reasoning did not satisfy Lepine. Patience was not
always a virtue. In this affair, it was impossible to wait a day or two.
With every hour, no doubt, the man they sought was putting fresh leagues
between himself and his pursuers. Crochard, so Lepine told himself
miserably, Crochard would not wait a day or two. Perhaps, already....

He put on his hat and sought the Cafe des Voyageurs. Choosing the seat
which he had occupied that morning, he ordered a liqueur and sat for an
hour contemplating the crowd. Again he perceived that the proprietor was
absent; but this time the head-waiter did not approach, or even meet his
glance. He thought, for a moment, of calling him and asking for
Crochard; but he finally decided that that would be too great an
indiscretion. Besides, as Crochard had pointed out, in this affair it
was Lepine who followed. It was for him to receive instructions, not to
give them. At last, with a feeling of depression and dependency quite
new to him, the great detective left the cafe, returned to his hotel and
went to bed.

But early next morning, things began to move again. He had scarcely
finished his breakfast, when a summons came from M. Delcasse to attend
him at once, and when Lepine entered his office, he saw that something
of importance had occurred. Delcasse already had a visitor--a tall, thin
man, dressed severely in black, with the word "banker" written all over
him. Lepine was therefore not surprised when the visitor was introduced
to him as the manager of the Toulon branch of the Bank of France.

"We have something of interest here," said Delcasse, and tossed over to
Lepine two notes for a hundred francs each.

The latter's eyes were shining as he picked them up, glanced at their
numbers, and then compared them with a third note which he took from his
pocket-book.

"They are of the same series," he said. "Where did you get them, sir?"
and he turned to the bank manager.

"They were deposited with us by the cashier of the central railway
station."

"When?"

"On the afternoon of Monday, the twenty-fifth."

"How did you discover them?"

"We received instructions yesterday from Paris to report immediately the
receipt of any notes of this series. Our cashier, while checking up our
deposits yesterday evening, happened upon these notes, and identified
them as a part of the railway deposit of the day before. The matter was
reported to me, and I at once forwarded the report to Paris. This