n said in a low tone. They entered
Hamilton's room, speaking quietly, as if they were burglars. Sarrasin
was lodged on the same corridor a little farther off. The soft electric
light was sending out its pale amber radiance on the corridor and in the
bedroom. Hamilton closed his door.

'Please take a seat, Sarrasin,' he said with elaborate politeness; and
Sarrasin obeyed him and sat down in a luxurious armchair, and then
Hamilton sat down too. This apparently was pure ceremonial, and the
ceremonial was over, for in a moment they both rose to their feet. They
had something to talk about that passed ceremonial.

'What do you think of all this?' Hamilton asked. 'Do you think there is
anything in it?'

'Yes, I'm sure there is. That's a very clever girl, Miss Paulo----'

'Yes, she's very clever,' Hamilton said in an embarrassed sort of
way--'a very clever girl, a splendid girl. But we haven't much to go on,
have we? She can only suspect that this fellow knows Spanish--she can't
be quite sure of it.'

'Many a pretty plot has been found out with no better evidence to start
the discovery. The end of a clue is often the almost invisible tail of a
piece of string. But we have other evidence too.'

'Out with it!' Hamilton said impatiently. In all his various anxieties
he was conscious of one strong anxiety--that Dolores might be justified
in her conjecture and proved not to have made a wild mistake.

'I got a telegram from across the Atlantic to-night,' Sarrasin said,
'that time in the dining-room.'

'Yes--well--I saw you had got something.'

'It came from Denver City.'

'Oh!'

'The home of Professor Flick. See?'

'Yes, yes, to be sure. Well?'

'Well, it tells me that Professor Flick is now in China, and that he
will return home by way of London.'

'By Jove!' Hamilton exclaimed, and he turned pale with excitement. This
was indeed a confirmation of the very worst suspicion that the discovery
of Dolores could possibly have suggested. The man passing himself off as
Professor Flick was not Professor Flick, but undoubtedly a South
American. And he and his accomplice had been for days and nights
domiciled with the Dictator!

'Is your telegram trustworthy?' he asked.

'Perfectly; my message was addressed yesterday to my old friend
Professor Clinton, who is now settled in Denver City, but who used to be
at the University of New Padua, Michigan.'

'What put it into your head to send the message? Had you any suspicion?'