y return to your cell, but don't tell even your
friends that you have seen the British consul."

"I won't mention it, sir."

And Jack returned to his cell, escorted by the governor himself, as the
consul did not wish anyone to know of the interview.

But when the governor returned, the consul said--

"Now, Monsieur Hocquart Delamarre, what do you think of the affair?"

The governor did not reply, but there quietly glided from behind a
screen, which probably had concealed him during the interview, a man of
middle age and height, with nothing at all striking in his appearance.

He might have passed for a clerk, a second-rate shopkeeper, or a
superior artisan; anyone passing him in the street would have taken no
notice whatever of such an everyday kind of a man.

Yet, after all, a very close observer would have noticed something very
peculiar about him. His eyes!

One moment they seemed to pierce the inmost recesses of your very soul,
yet when you tried, through them, to find a clue to their owner's
thoughts, you were utterly defeated, for they became misty and
expressionless.

"What do I think of the affair, monsieur?"

"Yes."

"Well, so early in the case, it is difficult to pronounce a decided
opinion," said Delamarre.

"That is very true, Monsieur Delamarre," said the consul.

"But as your excellency has sought my professional assistance in this
case, I feel my reputation is at stake, and shall exert myself to the
utmost."

"Monsieur Delamarre is one of the cleverest gentlemen we have in this
line of business," said the governor.

The middle-aged gentleman bowed.

"You are kind enough to say so, sir."

"You have made a good selection, Monsieur le Consul. In the detective
police Monsieur Delamarre has few equals."

Again the detective bowed, and addressing the consul, said--

"When shall I next have the honour of waiting on you again, monsieur?"

"As soon as you have learned any thing you think of sufficient
importance to tell me."

"At the consulate, of course?"

"Will it be safe for you to be seen there?"

"Monsieur, I stake my professional reputation that, when I call on you,
you shall not recognise me till I choose to reveal myself. There is an
extremely artful person mixed up in this affair, but I shall prove
still more artful than any of them; take the word of Hocquart Clermont
Delamarre."

With another bow the French detective made his exit.

He proceeded in the first place to his