ove to my hotel,
where we parted. I paid my bill, and at once made preparations to start
for Lyons, which was to be the next and last scene of my operations in
France.

As my train did not leave for three hours, I got into a carriage at some
distance from the hotel and was driven toward the next station, located
on the beautiful bay a few miles from Marseilles.

After driving along the shore of the bay for some miles I remember we
met two women, dressed in the quaint costume common to that part of the
country, each carrying a basket of eggs. I stopped the carriage and
endeavored to enter into conversation with the pair, but could not
understand a word of their patois. I then took a couple of eggs, handed
out a silver franc piece, and drove on, leaving two astonished women
standing in the road, gazing alternately at the piece of money and at
the back of my carriage. Arriving at the station I found it would be an
hour and a half to train time, and driving to a hotel on the shore I
ordered dinner to be served in the upper room of a two-story tower
overlooking the bay, with Marseilles in the distance. After dining I
strolled along the beach, looking at some queer fish not found north of
the Mediterranean, their colors vying in brilliancy with the plumage of
tropical birds. Returning to the station I took a ticket for Lyons,
stopping off at Arles about sunset, as I wished to see the amphitheatre
and other relics of the Roman occupation.

I remained in Arles till midnight, then took the train, arriving in
Lyons at 9 the next morning. Repairing to the Hotel de Lyons I had
breakfast, and on looking over the papers became satisfied that as yet
no discovery had been made. Therefore, I resolved to carry out my third
and last financial enterprise and then return to London with all speed.

I called a carriage and drove at once to the establishment of Messrs.
Coudert & Co. I sat near the desk, conversing with the head of the firm,
and opened a dispatch I sent from Arles, and, after reading, handed it
to him, saying: "I see that I shall have use for 60,000 francs, and must
ask you to cash a draft on my letter of credit for that amount." He
immediately stepped to the safe, took out a bundle of 1,000 franc notes,
and counting out sixty, gave them to me.

As it was almost certain that the Bordeaux fraud would soon be
discovered, I determined, now that my risky work was completed, to
attempt an immediate escape from France by way of