collection of
visiting-cards, and therein discovered that of a deaf ironmaster at St.
Etienne whose life he had once saved at a railway station by dragging
him, as he was crossing the line, out of the way of an express train
that came thundering through. Aristide, man of impulse, went straight
to St. Etienne, to work upon the ironmaster's sense of gratitude.
Meanwhile, M. Say, man of more sober outlook, bethought him of a client,
an American millionaire, passing through Paris, who had speculated
considerably in hotels. The millionaire, having confidence in the
eminent M. Say, thought well of the scheme. He was just off to Japan,
but would drop down to the Pyrenees the next day and look at the
Perpignan site before boarding his steamer at Marseilles. If his
inquiries satisfied him, and he could arrange matters with the managing
director, he would not mind putting a million dollars or so into the
concern. You must kindly remember that I do not vouch for the literal
accuracy of everything told me by Aristide Pujol.

The question of the all-important meeting between the millionaire and
the managing director then arose. As Aristide was at St. Etienne it
was arranged that they should meet at a halfway stage on the latter's
journey from Perpignan to Marseilles. The Hotel du Luxembourg at Nimes
was the place, and two o'clock on Thursday the time appointed.

Meantime Aristide had found that the deaf ironmaster had died months
ago. This was a disappointment, but fortune compensated him. This part
of his adventure is somewhat vague, but I gathered that he was lured
by a newly made acquaintance into a gambling den, where he won the
prodigious sum of two thousand francs. With this wealth jingling and
crinkling in his pockets he fled the town and arrived at Nimes on
Wednesday morning, a day before his appointment.

That was why he walked joyously about the blazing streets. The tide had
turned at last. Of the success of his interview with the millionaire he
had not the slightest doubt. He walked about building gorgeous castles
in Perpignan--which, by the way, is not very far from Spain. Besides, as
you shall hear later, he had an account to settle with the town of
Perpignan. At last he reached the Jardin de la Fontaine, the great,
stately garden laid out in complexity of terrace and bridge and
balustraded parapet over the waters of the old Roman baths by the master
hand to which Louis XIV. had entrusted the Garden of Versailles.