go in to M. Delcasse alone; you will say to him,
'Sir, I have outside a man who asserts that _La Liberte_ was blown up by
the Germans, and that he can prove it!' Then let M. Delcasse decide
whether or not he will receive me!"

Pigot was staring at the speaker with distended eyes.

"By the Germans!" he repeated, hoarsely. "By the Germans!"

Crochard answered with an impatient pressure of the arm.

"You are wasting time," he said.

"You are right," Pigot agreed. "Come with me," and he led the way across
the square.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: See "The Mystery of the Boule Cabinet."]

CHAPTER III

TWO GREAT MEN MEET

M. Delcasse and M. Lepine were still in conference when Pigot was
announced. He was admitted without delay, and made his report briefly
and clearly. It could have been summed up in a sentence: neither by him
nor by his agents had anything been discovered to indicate, even
remotely, that the catastrophe had been the result of intention; every
rumour to that effect had been sifted and disproved; _La Liberte_ had
been destroyed from within and not from without.

"Another 'accident,' then," grunted Delcasse gloomily. "But I do not
believe it! Something--something here"--and he smote his
forehead--"tells me that it was not an accident!"

Pigot, as a practical detective, had no faith in intuition; but whatever
his thoughts may have been, he managed to mask them behind an
impenetrable countenance.

"Our investigations have but just begun," Lepine pointed out. "They will
be continued without pause. I will conduct them in person. No
circumstance, however trivial, will be overlooked."

"I know you are a good man, Lepine," said the Minister wearily; "I know
there is none more clever. But something more than cleverness is needed
here--we need genius, inspiration." He stopped abruptly and rose from
his chair. "I am sure you will do your best. Remember, if there is any
discovery, I am to be told at once."

Pigot, who had been standing with lips compressed, undergoing a violent
inward struggle, at last managed to open them.

"I have a man outside," he said, as though repeating a lesson, "who
requests an audience with M. Delcasse. He asserts that _La Liberte_ was
blown up by the Germans, and that he can prove it."

Delcasse whirled as on a pivot and stared at the speaker.

"But, name of God!" he stammered, barely able to speak for excitement,
"why have you not introduced this man at once? Why have