otel by a long detour.

Rather agitated and exhausted by the events of the morning, Hyde went
upstairs to his own room to rest and review his situation.

"It is quite evident," he said to himself, "that Cyprienne has tried
to turn the tables on me. I was too open with her. It was incautious
of me to show my hand so soon. Of course the police have been set upon
me--the accused and still unjudged perpetrator of the crime in
Tinplate Street--by her. But has she acted alone in this?

"I doubt it. I doubt whether she would have come to Paris with that
express purpose, or whether the police would have listened to her if
she had.

"But who assisted her? Some one from whom she has no secrets. Were it
not that such a woman is likely to have set up the closest relations
with other miscreants in these past years, I should say that her agent
and accomplice was Ledantec. Ledantec is still alive; I know that, for
I saw him myself on the field of the Alma, rifling the dead.

"Ledantec! We have an old score to settle, he and I. What if he
should be mixed up in this business that brings me to Paris? It is
quite likely. That would explain his presence in the Crimea, which
hitherto has seemed so strange. I never could believe that so daring
and unscrupulous a villain had degenerated into a camp-follower,
hungry for plunder gained in the basest way. It could not have been
merely to prey upon the dead that he followed in the wake of our army.
Far more likely that he was a secret agent of the enemy. If so then,
so still, most probably. What luck if these damaging clues that I hold
should lead me also to him!

"But it is evident that I shall do very little if I continue to go
about as Rupert Hyde. The police are on the alert: my movements would
soon be interfered with, and, although I have no fear now of being
unable to prove my innocence, arrest and detention of any kind might
altogether spoil my game.

"I must assume some disguise, and to protect myself and my case I will
do so with the full knowledge of the Embassy. It will do if I go there
within an hour. By this evening at latest the police will certainly be
here after Rupert Hyde."

It must be mentioned here that the police of Paris are supposed to be
acquainted with the names of all visitors residing in the city. The
rule may be occasionally relaxed, as now, but under the despotism of
Napoleon III. it was enforced with a rigorous exactitude.

Hyde had been barely half-a-doze